Process versus product: which determines consumer demand for genetically modified apples?*

Abstract

One debate in the literature regarding consumers' reactions to genetically modified food (GMF) centres on whether consumers react to the process of gene technology or to the specific GMF products. Results from a choice experiment survey in New Zealand indicate that consumers are heterogeneous with regard to GMF and that some modifications are viewed more positively than others. These findings suggest that for some consumers the process of gene technology is the decisive factor in evaluating GMF, while for others the different potential GMF products are valued according to their enhanced attributes.