May 14/Washington/IFIC -- A new survey of U.S. consumer perceptions of agricultural technology shows a strong majority would be willing to purchase foods made with wheat produced using biotechnology if the innovations delivered nutritional or environmental benefits. The survey was sponsored by the International Food Information Council (IFIC).

Overall, most consumers surveyed indicated favorable or neutral impressions of plant biotechnology, with no one surveyed saying they are avoiding foods with biotech-derived ingredients.

Asked to describe what additional information they would like about food products, less than 1% of the survey respondents said they want to see information about biotech-derived ingredients on product labels.

Comparatively, nearly 9% of respondents said they would like to see more about a food’s nutrition and about 6% of respondents said they would like to see more about food safety. The vast majority, 76%, said they could not think of anything they wouldd like to see added to a food’s label.

Compared to the last IFIC technology survey in 2010, the results of this survey show little change in attitudes among consumers with regards to their overall impression of using biotechnology in wheat to produce food products like bread, crackers, cereal and pasta.

Consumers indicated they are supportive of biotechnology when considering its potential benefits. For instance, about 70% of consumers surveyed this year indicated they would be willing to buy products made from wheat produced using biotechnology if it provided additional nutritional benefits or was grown using less land, water or pesticides.

 From the May 14, 2012, Prepared Foods’ Daily News