Consumer attitudes toward the use of gene technology in tomato production

Abstract

Survey researches indicated that gene technology applied to the food sector is considered less useful than other applications. Recently, theoretical approaches, such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), have been applied to assess attitudes towards using gene technology in food production. A study ( n=1000 subjects), aimed at assessing beliefs and attitudes towards eating tomatoes produced by gene technology in the near future, was carried out in Italy. The basic frame of reference for design and analysis was the TRA. Measures of perceived behavioural control and moral obligation components were included into the model. Most of the subjects of the sample tended to hold negative attitudes towards eating tomatoes produced by gene technology. Also, it was found that there was a strong predictive link between beliefs and attitudes and between perceived behavioural control and intention of eating tomatoes produced by gene technology. The measure of moral obligation proved to be a no-significant predictor of intention. The Structural Equation Model was used for testing the expanded model. The finding of the application of the Structural Equation Model confirmed the contribution of more sophisticated statistical techniques for testing the basic framework of the TRA models in the context of food choices.