Consumer Response to Functional Foods Produced by Conventional, Organic, or Genetic Manipulation

The agro-food industry is developing a “second generation” of genetically modified ~GM! foods that can offer functional health benefits to consumers+ Many consumers, however, are turning to organic foods in order to avoid GM foods+ This report attempts to differentiate consumer valuation of functional health properties in conventional, organic, and GM foods+ A representative sample of 1,008 Canadian household food shoppers responded to twelve stated-choice experiments during a telephone survey+ Because opinions about organic and GM foods varied greatly, random parameters logit models were used to analyze their choices+ Results indicate that many Canadian consumers will avoid GM foods, regardless of the presence of functional health properties+ For others, the introduction of GM functional plant foods should increase acceptance of GM production methods, but many consumers will likely avoid functional foods derived from GM animals+ The organic food industry could also profit from the introduction of organic functional foods+ @EconLit citations: I120; D120+# © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc+ Agribusiness, Vol. 20 (2) 155–166 (2004) © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/agr.20006