Americans support existing food biotech labeling policy: Survey
summary：Americans are highly supportive of the current federal rules for labeling foods produced through biotechnology, according to a new survey conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC ....
The survey, which involved 750 US adults polled using an online survey tool, showed that 76% of consumers could not think of any additional information that they wish to see on food labels, while the remaining wanted more information.
Of the 24% who wanted more information, 36% wanted information related to nutritional content; 19% wanted more information about ingredients; and 18% wanted more food safety related information, such as possible allergens.
Only 3% of the 24% subset wanted more information about biotechnology.
In addition, consumers were presented with the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) current labeling policy for foods produced using biotechnology, which calls for labeling only when the food's nutritional content or its composition is changed or when a potential safety issue is identified. The survey results showed that 66% of respondents indicated their support for the policy.
The survey was fielded by Cogent Research of Cambridge, Massachusetts between 7 and 19 March 2012.