May 8, 2000 / The Associated Press / Philip Brasher, AP Farm Writer
CHICAGO -- Europeans and Japanese don't want gene-altered crops. Frito-Lay,
McDonald's and Gerber have rejected them, too. But grocers say, according to
this story, that American consumers don't seem to care one way or the
other at least not yet.
Richard Ramsey, who runs a Piggly Wiggly supermarket in Blountstown, Fla.,
waws quoted as saying, "It's a non-issue. They're not even thinking about
it."
Dave Eber, who manages a Marsh store in Indianapolis, was quoted as saying,
"I've not heard anything."
The story reports that a new survey, conducted by Research International USA
for the Food Marketing Institute with a margin of error of plus or minus 3
percentage points, was released at the supermarket industry's annual
convention, which opened Sunday, and found that support for crops that
produce genetically engineered food is slipping, even if a majority of
consumers still back the technology.
The story cited the survey as finding that 63 percent of shoppers surveyed
in January said they would be very or somewhat likely to buy a new variety
of produce that had been genetically engineered to resist insect damage.
That's down from 77 percent in a similar poll four years ago.
Fifty-four percent said in January they were very or somewhat likely to buy
produce that was modified to taste better or stay fresh longer, compared
with 58 percent in 1996.
A summary of the poll's findings was quoted as saying, "consumers are less
inclined to purchase these products" than they were in 1996.
The story also states that more than half of this year's soybean crop and 20
percent of this year's corn plantings will be of biotech varieties that are
resistant to a popular herbicide or insect pests. Biotech animals, including
leaner hogs and fast-growing salmon, are in development.
Thomas Hoban, a North Carolina State University sociologist who tracks
consumer attitudes about food, was cited as saying most people, however,
don't realize how widely used these so-called biotech ingredients have
become, and that nearly four in 10 questioned in the January poll said they
had heard nothing about biotech food, adding in Europe, "not only has the
support for food and agricultural biotechnology gone down but also support
for medical biotechnology. ... The U.S. is maybe overly positive. It will
swing down, maybe."
The story also says that consumers who don't want to eat biotech food are
expected to provide a boost to the $6 billion-a-year organic industry. The
lone major grocery chain to reject biotech food so far is Whole Foods
Market, which focuses on natural foods and stands to gain if consumers turn
away from gene-altered products.
James Hopper, senior vice president of natural food group operations for
Tree of Life Inc. of St. Augustine, Fla. was quoted as saying that biotech
food "is not as much of an issue nationally as it will become. People who
are aware of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and don't want to be
exposed to GMOs will definitely go to organic."
Ray Agah, who designs supermarkets for the 97-store Save Mart chain in
northern California, was cited as saying he isn't so sure and that what
matters most to consumers is the price and appearance of their food, adding,
"They like to talk about (organic food), but they don't buy it."
(posted without permission)
