A market research company called the NPD Group conducted a survey of 2,100 primary grocery shoppers across the country to gather consumer attitudes and perceptions of Genetically Modified foods or GMOs.
The majority of respondents were unable to define GMOs, said Darren Seifer, the food and beverage analyst for the company. The NPD Group consistently ranks among the top 25 market research companies in the independent Honomichl Top 50 report, which the media and the research industry acknowledge as a credible source of information on the market research industry. The NPD Group is headquartered in Port Washington, N.Y., with offices across the United States, Asia, United Kingdom, European Union and in Australia.
What matters now is who will educate consumers about what they eat and the health and safety of food.
As far as levels of concern, less than 10 percent of adults were “very” or “extremely” concerned about GMOs in 2002, but now that concern level is at more than 20 percent of adults, and has steadily increased.
Experts say foods that contain GMOs that are currently grown in the United States are no riskier than conventionally grown foods.
Despite research showing there’s no difference between GMO and non-GMO foods, proponents of non-GMO foods are winning the public relations battle. The most recent example is provided by Chipotle’s decision to prepare only food that does not contain GM ingredients.
The Mexican-style restaurant chain cited three reasons for removing GMO foods from its menu, saying on its website that scientists are still studying the long-term implications of GMOs, that the foods can damage the environment and that “Chipotle should be a place where people can eat food made with non-GMO ingredients.”
The “growing international consensus” among scientific organizations is that foods made from currently approved GM crops are safe to eat, said Gregory Jaffe, director of biotechnology at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
“This is not an ultra-hazardous technology,” Jaffe told Live Science. Although every new food product must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, “all current applications are safe,” he said.
The sugar industry is doing its part to counter falsehoods about GMOs. Find out what the American Sugarbeet Growers Association is doing in this issue.