Consumers were more willing to buy unlabeled produce after being shown food tagged as “genetically modified” in a new Cornell University study that comes two months before a new federal law, requiring genetically modified organism disclosure labels on food products, goes into effect.
“We wanted to learn from consumers what will happen to conventional products when the labeling goes into effect and we start seeing ‘GM’ and ‘non-GM’ labeled produce at the market,” said co-author Miguel Gómez, associate professor at Cornell’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. “Will shoppers be willing to purchase a product when the new labels are introduced?”
Consumer aversion toward genetically modified food has inspired mandatory labeling proposals and laws at the state and federal levels, according to the paper. On Jan. 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin implementing the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, which requires food marketers to disclose the use of GMOs in food and food products.
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