What UK consumers really think about gene-edited foods
Photo by Elaine Casap on UnsplashWhat do UK consumers feel about the use of gene-editing in food products? We decided to find out, by running an exploratory online qualitative research study with 50 grocery shoppers from around the UK.
Our research was run in early June 2022, and we asked specifically about gene-edited tomatoes, because at the time of writing this was a topical issue in the trade press.
We began by asking about people’s instinctive reactions to gene-edited tomatoes. Out of our 50 consumers, who all regularly buy tomatoes, 12 said gene-edited tomatoes sounded appealing, 24 said they sounded unappealing, and 14 were not sure.
Among the 24 people saying gene-edited tomatoes sounded unappealing, many felt such tomatoes would be less nutritious and less tasty than non gene-edited tomatoes. But the main sentiment was that gene-editing sounds unnatural or artificial, and unnecessary.
“I don’t like the idea of eating a tomato that feels like its more artificial then natural.”
“I would rather have a natural product than a synthetic one. It must affect the texture, taste etc.”
“I would prefer a natural variety of tomato and don’t know anything about gene editing but why mess with nature unnecessarily?”
Among the 12 people who said they thought gene-edited tomatoes sound appealing, several said that this could help with food shortages or wastage, make tomatoes tastier, or improve quality and therefore improve the health benefits of tomatoes.
“If it can make the production more sustainable, I’m all for it.
“If it can help with any food shortage, having more supply and more choice.”
“They will be improving the quality of the tomato without adding anything to it.”
Most of the 14 people who said they were unsure about gene-edited tomatoes expressed a willingness, or even interest, in understanding more about how gene-editing is undertaken before they make a judgement about it. However, some were uneasy about the safety of gene-editing, or the effect of it on the taste or quality of tomatoes.
“It may seem a good idea given the growing population, but would the quality and taste suffer?”
“I would need to know a lot more about what is involved in gene-editing”
“Need further scientific evidence to be persuaded it is a good move.”
Having asked people for their immediate or instinctive feelings about the appeal of gene-edited tomatoes, we then outlined the key claimed advantages of the gene-editing process. We included that:
It can reduce the need for pesticides
Make crops more resistant to disease and drought
Increase yield per acre
Improve the nutritional benefits of tomatoes
Having shown this list, we then asked our research participants whether they now felt more or less positive (or no different) about gene-edited tomatoes. Out of the 50 participants, 32 said they now felt more positive about them.
In particular, out of the 14 people who had previously said they were unsure about gene-edited tomatoes, 11 said they felt more positive about them in light of the claimed benefits.
Lastly, we asked the 50 participants whether in future they thought they would be most likely to buy gene-edited tomatoes, non gene-edited tomatoes, or either/both. 24 said they would only buy non-gene-edited tomatoes, 24 said they would buy either gene-edited or non gene-edited tomatoes, with 2 people being unsure.
Of course, this last question about future purchase intent is hypothetical, and so the answers need to be treated with care. Nevertheless, we felt that the overall sentiment of these 50 people was more open to gene-edited tomatoes than we had expected, especially after they had read about the claimed benefits. Having said that, even after knowing about the claimed benefits, 24 participants still said they would only buy non gene-edited tomatoes.
The research suggests to us that communicating the claimed advantages to consumers may be worthwhile for those who wish to promote gene-editing, but any change in attitudes and purchasing behaviour by consumers will take time, and many people will remain unpersuaded. If further consumer research was to be undertaken it could be useful to explore the relative importance in the mind of the consumer to each of the various different claimed benefits.