BACKGROUND

After new legislation passed in Congress requiring food products to disclose whether they contain GMO ingredients, our client, a marketing communications agency specializing in food and beverage, wanted to conduct a study on behalf of their own client, a frozen meat products company, to better understand how consumers engage with food packaging, what do they know about GMO’s and what are their reactions to GMO labeling.

SOLUTION

Lab42 designed a custom online study centered around the client’s key objectives:

• How they engage with food packaging and what information they look for
• Knowledge, opinion and importance of GMO labeling
• Perceptions regarding GMO products
• Influence of GMO labeling on purchase decision across different types of frozen meat products

STUDY DESIGN

Lab42 collected 300 respondents 18 years old or older, nationwide that were primary decision makers in grocery shopping decisions for their household. Sample was sourced from Lab42’s proprietary sample.

KEY FINDINGS

• Only slightly more than half of consumers carefully read the information provided on a package, and for the most part, they are looking for information around ingredients, calories and sugar content. Information regarding GMO is towards the bottom of the list of information they look for.
• A quarter of consumers are not familiar with the term GMO, however, this term has very negative connotations for them, especially when it comes to safety, taste and nutrition.
• As a result, more than 8 in 10 consumers would not buy a product with a label indicating that it contains GMO ingredients. Rejection was higher for meat and fish products.

IMPACT

The data showed consumers are not currently looking for information regarding GMO’s when shopping. However if they do know that a product contains GMO ingredients they are likely to reject it, even if they are not very clear what this term means.As the legislation gets closer to implementation and more focus is placed on this labeling change in the coming years, our client recognized the need for educating consumers and in formulating a positive campaign outlining the benefits of GMO ingredients and dispelling some of the beliefs sounding GMO’s.