Consumers buy GM foods when available

14 October 2008 by M&C

A new European study shows that where genetically modified (GM) products are available, consumers do buy them. The researchers also conclude that some people who buy GM-labelled products may not realise that they are doing so while others think they do when they do not. The report shows that what people say they will do is a poor indicator of what they actually do when shopping. The research in The Netherlands was conducted by TU Delft’s section of Biotechnology and Society of the department of Biotechnology.

Over the past decade there have been innumerable opinion polls designed to show what consumers say they would do if presented with the opportunity to buy products containing GM ingredients. By contrast, this two-year study looked into how consumers in ten European countries - the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, and the UK - actually behave.

An analysis of the actual behaviour compared to the claimed shopping behaviour of in total 41,000 consumers in five of the ten countries was conducted in January 2008. Of the EU consumers who had bought GM-labelled products in the previous 12 months, almost half of them thought that they had not, 20 % thought they did and 30% did not know, indicating that some consumers either do not read the ingredients label or don’t, in fact, care whether or not they buy GM-labelled products.

GM ingredients are not considered as an issue by Dutch consumers when buying food products. Over 55 per cent of Dutch consumers say they do not know if the food they buy contains GM ingredients. Only a small minority claimed they could recognise GM labelled products. Which is not surprising as nearly two third say they do not read labels before buying a product. Furthermore, 70 per cent say they do not try to avoid these products when shopping. These results are also confirmed by focus group studies where GM was not mentioned as a concern while shopping.
 
 “What this study indicates is that, whatever people may say in opinion polls, most do not actively avoid GM foods in the supermarket, suggesting they are not greatly concerned with the GM issue,” said Professor Vivian Moses of Kings College London, who co-ordinated the project.

Most of the GM-labelled products on sale in the ten markets are cooking oils and margarines but others on offer include popcorn, fish fingers, crisps, crackers, mayonnaise and chocolate bars.

The full report can be downloaded from http://www.kcl.ac.uk/consumerchoice

More information
Dr. Patricia Osseweijer, tel. +31 (15) 278 5140, e-mail P.Osseweijer@tudelft.nl
Frank Nuijens, science information officer, tel. +31 (15) 278 4259, e-mail F.W.Nuijens@tudelft.nl