Survey Shows Consumer Acceptance of Gene-Edited Bananas in the Philippines, Japan, and China

Alexandra Pittman from the University of Arkansas (UARK) conducted a survey to understand consumer acceptance of gene-edited bananas in the Philippines, Japan, and China, considering the respondents' cultural beliefs, fear of new foods, and how safe they thought the bananas were. The abstract of the study is available in Scholar Works at UARK.

The perishability of bananas leads to significant food waste. This problem led to the development of gene-edited reduced-browning bananas. A total of 1,309 consumers from three Asian countries were surveyed, focusing on their willingness to consume and labeling preferences.

The significant results of the study include:

• Safety matters most. If people believed the bananas were safe, they were much more willing to eat them. This was especially true in China (267.4% increase in odds), followed by Japan (171.2% increase), and the Philippines (95.1% increase).
• Fear of new foods reduces willingness to buy gene-edited banana. If people were afraid of trying new foods, they were less likely to eat the gene-edited bananas in all three countries.
• Culture plays a role in consuming the GE banana. Cultural beliefs influenced whether people in the Philippines would eat the bananas, and also affected what kind of labels people in Japan preferred.
• Environmental messages had different effects on the respondents. Talking about the environmental benefits of gene-edited bananas made people in Japan more willing to eat them, but it made people in China less willing.

Visit Scholar Works at UARK for more details.