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Concern over GMOs increasing, NPD study says

Over half of U.S. consumers express some level of concern about genetically-modified organisms, according to a report from The NPD Group.

May 20, 2015

Over half of U.S. consumers express some level of concern about genetically-modified organisms, according to a report from The NPD Group. However, when asked to describe GMOs, many consumers are unclear.

The NPD Group asked consumers to tell, in their own words, what the term GMOs means, and found answers such as "genetically altered," "not natural," and many consumers said "don't know." The study found that 44 percent of consumers think GMOs have some kind of benefit, while a higher percentage has some level of concern. Genetic modification is defined by the US Department of Agriculture as "the production of heritable improvements in plants or animals for specific uses, via either genetic engineering or other more traditional methods," NPD said in a press release.

The increased awareness of and concerns about GMOs from consumers could be because of media coverage and various states' legislative efforts to label genetically modified foods, the company said. In 2002, 43 percent of consumers expressed any level of concern about genetically modified foods, and in 2014, 57 percent of U.S. adults had some level of concern, according to NPD's Food Safety Monitor, which also found that less than 10 percent of adults were "very" or "extremely" concerned about GMOs in 2002. That concern level is at 20 percent of adults, and has steadily increased.