British Gradually Changing Attitude toward GM Food

There is a gradual increase in public support for genetically modified food among the British and they are less likely to have a strong attitude towards it. These are some revelations from an attitude study funded by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) of the United Kingdom. Aside from GM food, respondents were asked about other emerging technologies such as high pressure treatment, gas filled packaging and hypothetical foods that have health benefits.

FSA noted that people who are more concerned about food technologies are considerably older, female, have a low income, and have a high level of concern about food safety. When people are familiar with the name of a food technology, i.e. a microwave, they tended to be less concerned about it. In contrast, when asked about eating food from a magnetron (another term for microwave) they tended to show more concern.

The 2008 British Social Attitudes survey was designed to see changes in British social, economic, political and moral values. To read more about the report visit  http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2010/mar/foodtechbsa08