Acceptance of a food of animal origin obtained through genetic modification and cloning in South America: a comparative study among university students and working adults

Abstract

With the aim of comparing the acceptance of milk obtained from cloned, genetically modified (GM) and conventionally bred cows among working adults and university students, and identifying and characterizing typologies among both subsamples in terms of their preferences, a survey was applied to 400 people in southern Chile, distributed using a simple allocation among the subsamples. Using a conjoint analysis, it was found that consumers preferred milk from a conventional cow. Using a cluster analysis, in both subsamples two segments sensitive to production technology were identified. Rejection of cloning was greatest among university students, whereas a higher proportion of working adults rejected GM. The segments differed in terms of area of residence, knowledge about GM, and milk consumption habits. Contrary to what was expected, no differences were found according to education, gender or degree of satisfaction with food-related life.

Citizens’ attitudes and perceptions towards genetically modified food in Chile: Special emphasis in CRISPR technology

“…Conversely to previous reports in Chile, we found a higher number of respondents that knew the meaning of transgenic compared to the less than 30% reported by (Schnettler et al 2012(Schnettler et al , 2016. This difference might be explained by the higher education level of respondents from the present study, while in Schnettler et al (2012Schnettler et al ( , 2016 most respondents had not completed a technical or professional degree, and half of the sample were students.…”

“…Although this is the first Chilean report about the knowledge and perceptions about CRISPR, our results showed that Chilean respondents are more familiarised with its definition compared to Japanese participants, where 6% of respondents had heard the term (Uchiyama et al 2018). Conversely to previous reports in Chile, we found a higher number of respondents that knew the meaning of transgenic compared to the less than 30% reported by (Schnettler et al 2012(Schnettler et al , 2016. This difference might be explained by the higher education level of respondents from the present study, while in Schnettler et al (2012Schnettler et al ( , 2016 most respondents had not completed a technical or professional degree, and half of the sample were students.…”

“…For example, animal health and welfare can affect positively attitudes toward genome modifications in dairy cows in Canada (Ritter et al 2019), a similar conclusion was observed in a Japanese survey but related to genetic disease in humans and the use of gene therapy (Uchiyama et al 2018). In Chile, poor knowledge of the meaning of transgenic and a negative perception of animal production technologies has been reported before (Schnettler et al 2012(Schnettler et al , 2016, with a lower acceptance of food including beef or milk obtained through genetic modification and cloning. Nevertheless, the perceptions of Chilean citizens about CRISPR have not been studied.…”

Are views towards egg farming associated with Brazilian and Chilean egg consumers’ purchasing habits?

“…It is reported that citizens from Brazil and Chile are interested in the quality of food and in some aspects of food production [ 18 , 19 ]. However, it appears that this interest is mostly related to aspects of food production that may influence human health and food prices [ 20 , 21 ], whereas concerns for farm animal welfare seems low [ 5 , 22 ], which suggests a lack of knowledge of how animals are produced [ 23 , 24 ]. Furthermore, it has been shown that attitudes of citizens towards production systems are not always reflected in their purchasing habits or willingness to pay more for the attributes they consider important in food production [ 25 ].…”

Ficin: A protease extract with relevance in biotechnology and biocatalysis

“…Among proteases, vegetable proteases have attracted a great interest, mainly in food applications [12][13][14][15][16]. Consumers showed some rejection to proteases from animal sources [17] by the risks of illness transmission, while recombinant proteases cannot be utilized in human foods in certain countries. In this sense, ficin is an enzyme extract composed by several proteases that is attained from the latex of the fig ( Ficus carica).…”