Biotech Updates

Swiss Consumers: Freedom of Choice and GM

September 23, 2011

How would Swiss consumers decide if they had freedom of choice? Consumers were given the option to choose among organic, conventional and GM corn bread in a supermarket. It was observed that Swiss consumers treat GM foods just like any other type of novel food. Results of the discrete choice analysis according to researchers Philip Aeerni and colleagues of the Institute for Environmental Decisions at ETH Zurich proved that consumers tend to appreciate transparency and freedom of choice even if one of the offered product types is labeled as containing a GM ingredient.

The researchers recommended that retailers should allow consumers to make their own choice and accept the fact that not all people appear to be afraid of GM food.

View the article at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919211001102.