• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.182-190
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• 2008

A survey on consumer's awareness and perception toward genetically-modified(GM) foods was conducted on 2110 random samples of Korean consumers. More than 65% of the respondents were exposed to some information related to GM foods. The respondents answered that the greatest benefit of the development of GM foods is remedy of potential food shortages in the future. More than 90% of Korean consumers wanted GM foods to be labeled as such. More than 50% of the respondents would not buy until they know more about GM foods. Only 35.8% of Korean consumers were found to know that food items originating from plants contained genes. More consumers responded that they would not buy herbicide-resistant GM soybean but buy vitamin-enriched GM soybean. Many Korean consumers' decision of acceptance or rejection of GM foods depend not on the basis of biotechnology, but on the basis of the degree of benefit to the consumers. Only 6.4% of Korean consumers responded that GM foods were the greatest threat to the safety of Korean foods. The perception of Korean consumers on GM foods has not changed significantly during the past 5 years.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.19-30
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• 2003

In this study, housewives' attitudes toward genetically modified foods (GM foods) and their willingness to purchase GM foods were examined. The findings of this study could provide useful information for consumer education and consumer policy development regarding GM foods. The specific purposes of this study were: (1) to examine consumers' attitudes toward GM foods, (2) to analyze the effect of the perception of GM foods and demographic variables on consumers' attitudes toward GM foods, and (3) to analyze the effect of the perception of GM foods and demographic variables on consumers' willingness to purchase GM foods. The questionnaire used in the survey was constructed by the author, based on existing literature. The survey was conducted with 1,100 housewives, and 723 of the completed survey forms were used in the final analysis. Frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviation, t-tests, ANOVA, Duncan-test, Pearson's Correlation, factor analysis, and discriminant analysis were employed for data analysis methods. Major findings are: (1) Consumers' attitudes toward GM foods consist of three factors, that are, attitude regarding potential danger, attitude regarding the use of GM technique on plants, and attitude regarding the use of GM technique on animals. (2) Consumers with a higher level of education tend to perceive GM food as more dangerous, whereas consumers with a lower level of education tend to accept more the use of GM technique on plants. (3) Consumers who tend not to consider GM foods as dangerous, and those who acknowledged benefits in using GM technique on plants are more willing to buy GM foods.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.387-406
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• 2015

This study was to investigate consumers' recognition, knowledge and purchase attitude on genetically modified(GM) foods in Daejeon area. Data of 283 questionnaires were analyzed by using the SPSS(Ver. 17.0)program. Most of the subjects were women (91.9%), distributed 30's(41.7%) or 40's(31.8%), and graduated from university(41.3%). The kinds of GM foods that many subjects had known were soybean, corn, tomatoes and potatoes. The subjects answered that there were GM foods in supermarket items were 71%. Consumers' recognition on the safety of GM foods was 'somewhat anxious'(65.4%). After confirming which their purchasing item is GM foods, 'they will buy it case by case'(60.1%) or 'they will never buy it'(27.9%). The most reason of never buying GM foods was 'harmful to health'(82.3%). The first reliable information sources on GM foods were medical institutes and professionals. The knowledges about GM foods were significantly higher in 20's and 'less than 1year' of marriage duration than the other groups(p<0.05). On the purchase attitude of GM foods, the 20's responded favorably compared to other groups (p<0.01). Subjects' opinion on the necessity of development on GM foods tended to higher in 40's and 'less than 2 million won' of monthly income than the other groups. For the reason about necessity of it's development, 'nutritional, functionality and quality improvement' was 53.7%. In conclusion, many consumers regard that GM foods is not yet safe for health. Accordingly, government and research institutes should examine thoroughly and research continuously for the safety of GM foods. They must announce to consumers accurate information about GM foods.