• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.152-158
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• 2001

A survey of consumers'awareness and attitudes about food biotechnology was conducted during May through August of 2001 with a random sample of 750 Korean consumers. More than 70% of the respondents was exposed to some informations related to genetically modified (GM) foods. The greatest benefit of the development of GM foods was thought to be the remedy for the food shortage in the future. More than 90% of Korean consumers wanted GM foods labeled. About 20% of the respondents would buy GM foods voluntarily, whereas over 50% would not until they found out more. More consumers responded that they would not buy herbicide-tolerant GM soybean but buy vitamin-enriched GM soybean. It seemed to be that many Korean consumers do not make decisions of acceptance or rejection of GM floods not on the basis of biotechnology but on the basis of the word(s) used to describe the products, such as herbicide and vitamin. Only 4% of Korean consumers responded that GM foods were the greatest safety-threatening factor of Korean foods and that the most interested information on food labels was whether the food was produced by biotechnology.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.806-811
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• 2006

The regulation of labelling criterion for genetically modified (GM) foods has been enforced since 2001 in Korea. Therefore, GM soybean (GMS) or GM maize (GMM) processed foods must be labeled as GMO derived. We surveyed to see whether this regulation is kept relevantly or not and the distributive statue of GM processed foods. Using the method of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based on endogenous gene (Le1n, SSIIb), promoter gene (P35S), terminator gene (NOS) and transgenic gene (RRS, Bt11, Bt176, GA21, T25, Mon810), we detected GMS and GMM processed foods circulating at the market in Busan area. Out of total 100 samples, 38 items were showed to be contaminated with recombinant gene by qualitative PCR. Among 82 domestic and 18 imported items, 32 (39.0%) and 6 (33.3%) items were detected with GM ingredients respectively. Also among the 80 soybean and 20 maize processed foods, 23 (28.7%) and 15 (75.0%) foods were sensitive to detect GMS and GMM ingredients respectively. For the qualitative PCR positive foods, we chased identity preservation (IP) certificates. And we verified that the PCR positive crops were grown up, harvested and shipped separately from GMO but just mixed with GMO in the threshold of the non attentional contamination levels (3%). Thus we can not find out any regulation-violent case at all. The results of this study will help to keep the regulations of GM labelling and be informative to consumers who want to know the laboratory results of GMO testing.

• 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.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.1155-1161
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• 2003

A three-year (2000-2002) survey on consumer's awareness and perception of genetically-modified (GM) foods was conducted on random samples of Korean consumers. More than 65% of the respondents were exposed to some information related to GM foods. The greatest benefit of the development of GM foods was thought to be their remedy of potential food shortages in the future. More than 90% of Korean consumers wanted GM foods to be labeled. About 18% of the respondents would buy GM foods voluntarily, whereas over 46% would not until they knew more about the product. Only 39% of Korean consumers were found to have realized that food items origination from plants contained genes. More consumers responded that they would not buy herbicide-resistant GM soybean and buy vitamin-enriched GM soybean instead. Many Korean consumers appeared to make decisions of acceptance or rejection of GM foods not on the basis of biotechnology, but on the basis of the word(s) used to describe the products, such as herbicide and vitamin. Only 4% of Korean consumers responded that GM foods were the greatest threat to the safety of Korean foods.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.157-165
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• 2002

A two-year survey of consumers'awareness and perception of genetically-modified (GM) foods was conducted during May through September of 2000 and 2001 with a random sample of Korean consumers. More than 68% of the respondents were exposed to some information related to GM foods. The greatest benefit of the development of GM foods was thought to be the remedy for the food shortage in the future. More than 90% of Korean consumers wanted GM foods to be labeled. About 18% of the respondents would buy GM foods voluntarily, whereas over 49% would not until they found out more. Only 40% of Korean consumers were found to realize that food items originated ken plants contain genes. More consumers responded that they would not buy herbicide-tolerant GM soybean but buy vitamin-enriched GM soybean. It seemed to be that many Korean consumers do not make decisions of acceptance or rejection of GM foods not on the basis of biotechnology but on the basis of the word(5) used to describe the products, such as herbicide and vitamin. Only 4% of Korean consumers responded that GM foods were the greatest safety-threatening factor of Korean foods.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.157.1-157.1
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• 2001

• Toxicological Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.101-108
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• 2004

The different social reflections about the benefits and the potential risks of genetically modified (GM) crops have evolved with .different reactions in different countries. Many countries including Korea are working toward setting down new guidelines. Korea requires companies to label all food that contains more than 3% GM ingredients. One of the rapid and convenient detection methods of GM ingredients is amplification of the introduced DNAs by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Many PCR kits for this purpose are commercially available. The objective of this study was to evaluate performance of commercialized GM crop detection kits. The results showed that 6 out of 15 kits tested did not meet the requirements even purposed by the manufacturers themselves in terms of stability, reproducibility, and detection limits, suggesting a potential quality control problem in their design stage or production line. The evaluation also suggests that, although the duplex and triplex detection kits allowed unambiguous detection in a single PCR reaction, the monoplex detection kits were the most sensitive to the detection of GM ingredients. The detection limits also differ between soybean and corn. Results from this study will be useful in the development of sound qualitative tracking systems of GM ingredients for monitoring throughout the cultivation of GM crops, their trans-boundary movement, and food production using GM grains as well as for complying with government guidelines associated with GM crops.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.875-890
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• 2021

In order to confirm the safety of a genetically modified organism (GMO), we assess its potential toxicity on non-target insects and spiders. In this study, the effects of GM soybean, a type of vitamin-A-enhanced transgenic soybean with tolerance to the herbicide glufosinate, were assessed under a field condition. The study compared this vitamin-A-enhanced transgenic soybean and a non-GM soybean (Gwangan) in a living modified organism (LMO) isolated field of Kyungpook National University (Gunwi) and the National Institute Agricultural Sciences (Jeonju) in the Republic of Korea in 2019 - 2020. In total, 207,760 individual insects and arachnids, representing 81 families and 13 orders, were collected during the study. From the two types of soybean fields, corresponding totals of 105,765 and 101,995 individuals from the vitamin-A-enhanced transgenic soybean and Gwangan samples areas were collected. An analysis of variance indicated no significant differences (p < 0.05). A multivariate analysis showed that the dominance and richness outcomes of plant-dwelling insects were similar. The data on insect species population densities were subjected to a principal component analysis (PCA) and an orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), which did not distinguish between the two varieties, i.e., the vitamin-A-enhanced transgenic soybean and the non-GM soybean in any cultivated field. However, the results of the PCA analysis could be divided overall into four groups based on the yearly survey areas. Therefore, there was no evidence for the different impact of vitamin A-enhanced transgenic soybean on the above-ground insects and spiders compared to non-GM soybean.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.677-682
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• 2004

Debates on safety of genetically modified (GM) crops have led to mandatory-labeling legislation of GM foods in many countries including Korea. Effects of heat, pressure, and acid treatments on degradation of DNAs or proteins in GM soybean at levels below detection limits of qualitative PCR and lateral flow strip test (LFST) methods were examined. Results showed that genomic DNAs and proteins were degraded into fragment sizes no longer possible for detection of inserted gene depending on thermal, or thermal and pressure treatment period. Detectaability of LFST for toasted meal increased in weakly treated soybean. DNA and protein detection methods were barely effective for detection of GM ingredient after $121^{\circ}C$ and 1.5 atmospheric treatment for 20 min. These results will be useful in determining GM labeling requirements of processed foods.