Consumers' Acceptance and Willingness to Buy GM Food

In this study, taking into account the increasing consumers' interest in quality and food safety, an attempt was made to study how consumers' beliefs and values associated to Genetically Modified (GM) food and GM production process affect the acceptance and therefore the willingness-to-buy GM food. A survey was simultaneously conducted in two countries, Germany and Greece, using personal interviews, to identify and assess the factors that influence consumers' willingness-to-buy GM food. Findings revealed that consumers' acceptance of GM food is strongly influenced by their beliefs and values and the reasoning of their behavior in both countries is based on the same underpinnings. However, noteworthy differences between the two countries have been recorded as well. Finally, understanding the public's range of views on technological advance in food production is very important to understand and anticipate potential acceptance problems.