In January 2001 the International Food Information Council commissioned Wirthlin Worldwide to conduct a fifth food biotechnology survey of 1,000 Americans; the survey included questions related to labeling and a number of new questions to determine consumers' attitudes and information needs regarding food biotechnology.
Most American consumers (64 percent) expect to benefit from biotechnology in the next 5 years. However, overall awareness of the presence of biotech foods in grocery stores has actually decreased since May 2000 (36 percent, down from 43 percent).
There is clearly no significant indication of top-of-mind demand for labeling biotech foods in this survey. Ninety-five percent of the respondents stated that they have not taken any action in the last few months on the basis of concerns regarding biotech foods.
When asked, unaided, to identify what information is currently not on food labels that they would like to see added, 74 percent of the respondents said "nothing" and only 2 percent mentioned "genetically altered" food.
When presented with the current U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policy on the labeling of biotech foods (which requires special labeling only when there is a change in a product's composition, nutrition content, or safety profile), 70 percent of consumers express their support. In the next question, more than half of consumers agreed with FDA critics who desire that all foods produced through biotechnology be labeled-even if the safety and nutritional content are unchanged. An additional question, however, found that 75 percent believe that food biotechnology information should be provided through toll-free numbers, brochures, and Web sites "instead of labeling."
So what does all of this mean? Some consumers may have mixed feelings about the labeling issue and the presence of biotech foods in their local grocery stores but see food biotechnology as a benefit in the near future.
The full survey can be viewed by logging onto our new Web site: http://ific.org.
