The spanish consumers' opinion about genetically modified food and their safety

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study on the public perception of food safety issues and transgenic foods among Spanish citizens. The results show two distinct types of behavior with respect to the acquisition of a product based on a new technology (like biotechnology): the behavior as consumers of a product, and the behavior as citizen and user of this technology. One of the reasons for this schism is the difference between the relatively high level of (general) information and the low level of (specific) knowledge with respect to this technology. People in Spain perceive transgenic foods as similar to existing industrial foodstuffs. This leads a majority of them to reject purchasing those products. These attitudes are in line with the responses given in relation to the introduction of regulation (labeling) of transgenic foodstuffs.