Biotechnology developments in food and agricultural sectors are developing swiftly. Tools and techniques including CRISPR-Cas, ZFN, and TALEN provide gene editing opportunities which may lead to new food and agricultural products with identifiable benefits for end-use consumers. Currently however, there are few publicly identifiable products using gene editing in the commercial marketplace (CAST, 2018; Shukla-Jones et al., 2018, Dahlstrom et al., under review). This emerging field is predicated on cisgenic editing, that is, editing the genome of a specific species or those sexually compatible with one another. This is distinct from the transgenic generations of genetically modified organisms (GMO) for human and animal consumption (GM food) as they do not require the insertion or translation of foreign DNA to produce desired traits within a novel product.

This current generation of gene-edited foods (GEF) may be desirable from a research and development perspective as they can be produced quickly, with greater granular control, and more cheaply than traditional selective breeding or transgenic modification (NASEM, 2017; Pirscher et al., 2018; Shukla-Jones et al., 2018; Bain et al., 2020). The tools of gene editing proffer opportunity for biotechnologists to create new products that could provide a variety of agronomic and sustainability benefits, and may also enhance food security (Abdallah et al., 2015; Georges and Ray, 2017; Haque et al., 2018; Panda and Sahu, 2018; Chen et al., 2019). This desire to foster potential benefits of gene editing in agriculture and food is also reflected in the current regulatory scheme overseen by the USDA as its SECURE Rule (Sustainable, Ecological, Consistent, Uniform, Responsible, and Efficient) specifically establishes exemptions for gene edited plants that are created through methods “where the modification could otherwise have been made through conventional breeding” (USDA, 2021). To this point, the first GEF product entered the marketplace in March 2019 as a non-regulated article—a gene-edited soybean variety which provides cooking oil that is more shelf-stable than the conventional alternative and which is free of trans fats.

Historically, some GMO products have provided benefits to certain groups and consumers, but they also evoked a great deal of controversy regarding concerns of product safety, equitable distribution of benefits, and concerns about developmental practices and maintaining high ethical standards (Cummings et al., under review; Yue et al., 2015). Given the public perceptions and backlash faced by GMO products, there is a lot of speculation regarding how GEF products will come to be understood, and if they will be accepted or avoided by society.

Given the pernicious public perceptions of risks and benefits of GMOs, proponents and trade advocacy groups are seeking inroads to ensure that the public view GEF as less controversial than its predecessors. These groups seek means to avoid ‘burdensome’ regulations and restrictions which accompanied GMO development to introduce GEF into the commercial marketplace in a more favorable light (Bain et al., 2020; Bain and Dandachi, 2014; Schurman and Munro, 2010). Actualizing this potential for GEF depends readily on whether the public trusts the end-products (Cummings et al., under review; Cummings, 2017; Friedrichs et al., 2019), that being, are they willing to eat gene edited foods or will they choose to purposefully avoid them? While the study of potential GEF risks are ongoing, including off-target effects, unintended on-target effects, and unintended consequences from genome editing (Kawall et al., 2020) many scholars have postulated that trust regarding GEF will be influenced by factors that extend beyond technical risks and benefits (Cummings et al., under review; Dietz, 2013; NASEM, 2017; Kuzma and Kokotovich, 2011). However, there is little reliable data which reports representative coordinated study of the United States public as to what factors influence their willingness to eat- or purposeful avoidance of GEF. This study fills this gap to identify influential factors which, in concert, help to explain not only if members of the public trust GEF and are willing to eat GEF foods or choose to avoid them, but why they hold the trust attitudes they do. This paper thus seeks descriptive and theoretical ends to quantitatively report the degree to which the United States public trusts in GEF. Our analysis using ordinary least squares regression modeling is among the first to report individual-level antecedent characteristics which demonstrate why members of the public hold the attitudes they do and helps to evaluate ‘which factors matter’ when people make decisions about their willingness to eat gene edited food products. Thus, this evaluation clarifies which demographic, sociographic, and value-based characteristics most influence end-consumer trust in GEF which improves the theoretical understanding of food technology decision making. This data may also be of high value to practitioners who can better understand the motives and characteristics of audiences within the public who hold distinct views about GEF and are influenced similarly by distinct personal factors. Our approach is motivated by the following research questions which guides our inquiry, “Is the United States public willing to eat gene edited foods? Would they rather purposefully avoid them? Which individual-level characteristics most influence these trust outcomes?”

First, we review the related and contentious history of public perceptions and willingness to eat/avoid GMOs. We then turn to the methods and results of our representative survey study which extends previous descriptive and theoretical work to evaluate why members of the public are willing to eat or prefer to avoid GEF. Our results which demonstrate distinct “trusting” and “distrusting” publics is further explicated in our discussion which provides timely and valuable insights into how this data can be leveraged for public engagement and may inform subsequent evaluation as this set of food technologies becomes more familiar with United States audiences in coming years.

The future of GEF is invariably related to the history of GMOs. Critics, including many NGO and consumer advocacy groups regard GEF as an extension of GMOs and seek to influence the broader populous to believe these food technologies as similar or equal in how they should be trusted. Proponents too are concerned whether the public will accept gene editing in food and agriculture given the relationship to GMOs and public’s skepticism toward it (Bain and Dandachi, 2014; NASEM, 2017) and are seeking new avenues to assuage public concerns toward GEF. These concerns are prompted by the extreme differences in risk perceptions of GMOs between scientific experts and members of the public, where, in 2015, for example, 88% of scientists believed that GMO foods were safe for human consumption as compared to only 37% of the public (Pew Research Center, 2015). Over the last decade, the anti-GMO movement has garnered significant attention and traction in the U.S. culminating in the 2018 USDA approval of the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard that requires foods containing GMO ingredients to be labeled (Bain and Dandachi, 2014; Federal Register, 2018). Now a similar campaign is being initiated by proponents and critics alike to ‘garner social license,’ among the public, that is, to win broad public acceptance or rejection of GEF technology (Cummings et al., under review).

Furthermore, studies of public trust in GMOs identified that coordinated efforts to educate the public about the science of food technologies did not instill favor or diminish mistrust or skepticism (Hagendijk and Irwin, 2006; Irwin et al., 2013; Macnaghten, 2008). Rather than repeat the risk and safety narratives of the GMO-era, many proponents now see to curry favor from the public for GEF through alternate means of establishing trust and acceptance including avoiding science-talk, seeking to instill shared values between consumers and developers, and increasing transparency of GEF development operations (Cummings et al., under review). However, NGOs and consumer groups critical of GEF note that it faces significant challenges to instill public trust given its relation to GMOs, scientific complexity, and social, environmental, and ethical concerns (Helliwell et al., 2019). As Cummings et al. (under review) noted, critics and proponents were conflicted with one another about how GEF should be defined, how the risks and benefits of GEF ought to be framed in public discourse, and what, if any, mandatory or voluntary product labeling initiatives should be undertaken. Critics were also more likely to call out the need for more stringent risk and safety testing prior to commercialization and increased governance and tracking of GEF products (Cummings et al., under review).

Other recent studies have also begun to explore this area to assess factors and personal motives for why general members of the public may be willing to eat GEF or will choose to avoid it. Pruitt et al. (2021) sought to identify if individuals’ physical activity level influenced their acceptance of gene edited foods. Their study of approximately 300 people indicated that there is no link between individual physical activity level and one’s willingness to pay for genetically engineered foods. However, their study did find that participants were more accepting of GEF than GMO products. Furthermore, the authors suggest that consumers found the availability of benefits of gene edited foods to be laudable but that in general they would prefer not to purchase gene edited food products.

Delwaide et al. (2015) conducted an international comparison study to compare consumer acceptance and willingness to pay for rice labeled as “GM” or “cisgenic” in an online survey study of approximately 3,000 participants across Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. They found that consumers across the countries we’re willing to pay a premium to avoid purchasing GM rice, and that in all countries except for Spain, consumers we’re willing to pay more to avoid GM rice as compared to cisgenic rice. This suggests that cigenically-produced rice may be viewed as more acceptable than GM alternatives. Similar findings have been observed more recently as well. For instance, in a choice experiment of 600 residents of in Denmark; Edenbrandt et al. (2018) found that consumers cisgenic over transgenic rye bread production methods, but that most of the sample favored historically traditional breeding methods over any method. Marette et al. (2021) compared consumer attitudes and willingness to pay for gene edited apples which do not turn brown after being cut in France (N = 162) and the U.S. (N = 166). They found that the French sample would purposefully avoid the product while the U.S. consumers found the innovation of value “as long as it is not generated by biotechnology” (n.p.). Another recent study by Shew et al. (2018) suggests that publics in many countries remain skeptical of agricultural biotechnology but that their panel of international respondents from USA, Canada, Belgium, France, and Australia were more likely to be willing to consumer foods derived from CRISPR than GM labeled foods.

The future of GEF is dependent upon consumer acceptance. While previous studies have found that consumers are split in their acceptance and willingness to pay for GEF products, no representative studies have yet identified antecedent factors that influence consumers’ willingness to eat gene edited foods as well as what factors are associated with an individual’s purposeful avoidance applying gene edited foods. Such information can inform policy makers, stakeholders, and risk communicators about the current public perceptions of GEF applications and guide future consumer engagements and governance initiatives. From this premise our representative survey study seeks to fill this gap and we are guided by the following two research questions:

RQ1: What factors influence individuals’ willingness to eat gene edited foods?

RQ2: What factors influence individuals’ purposeful avoidance of buying gene edited foods?

We conducted a cross-sectional survey on public attitudes and perceptions about plant-based gene edited (GE) foods (Cummings, 2018). Data are from a nationally representative sample of n = 2,000 U.S. residents over 18 years of age, drawn from YouGov’s National Omnibus Panel during the last 2 weeks of September 2020. The results have an observed margin of error of ±2.2 percentage points. The National Omnibus is a compensated opt-in survey panel comprised of 1.8 million U.S. residents who have agreed to participate. Panel members are recruited by a number of methods to help ensure representativeness of the panel population. Recruiting methods include web advertising, permission based email contacts, partner sponsored solicitations, telephone contacts using random digit dialing, and mail contacts using random address selection (YouGov, 2020). Data are weighted to match the demographic characteristics of the adult population, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey.

From our analysis, we find that social values, institutional trust, and awareness are the most important factors in why Americans would choose to either eat or avoid GE foods. Surprisingly, the public’s attitudes about the tangible characteristics of food (such as safety, cost, taste, and appearance) had no bearing on GE food perceptions. This helps explains why the American public makes little distinction between willingness to eat processed or raw foods made with GE crops. We expected people to be more willing to eat processed and less willing on raw GE foods, but the results from both models are nearly identical. We also find that food information sources play a minimal role in people’s decisions about GE food products. Given the newness of the technology, we expected the public to rely more on information channels to make food choices. Instead, our findings indicate that social values about technology and food ethics are the main reasons driving willingness to eat and purposeful avoidance of GE foods.

Those willing to buy and consume GE foods are those who embrace technology generally, both for themselves and those who develop such technology. This group sees science and technology as a valuable part of society, making everyone’s life better off. It is likely they make no distinction between GE foods and other technological innovations. GE food adopters are also much more aware of the technology, having read much about it and report a good understanding of the topic. Perhaps due to a high level of awareness, most do not think GE foods is a matter of great public concern and care little about the issue. This group also trusts government and industry scientists who develop, commercialize, and regulate GE foods. This trust likely stems from their pro-technology attitudes and knowledge of the subject. Levels of trust are double that for GE food skeptics, except that even pro-technology people do not trust government and industry to understand the social and ethical implications of GE foods. Consistent with other technology adopters (Peters et al., 2007; Lang, 2013), this group tends to be dominated by younger generations (Generation Z and Millennials under 30 years if age) and those with upper middle class incomes (above $125,000 annually).

On the other hand, those who choose to not buy or eat GE foods are people who place greater value on their own personal beliefs than on science. When making food choices, GE skeptics say ethics and beliefs are important in their decisions, suggesting an ethical or moral objection to GE foods. Given the importance of values, it is unsurprising that this group cares deeply about the issue of GE foods. These values about food correlate with strong religious beliefs and conservative political orientations compared to GE adopters. The combination of ethical concerns and anti-technology orientations is what likely accounts for lower trust in government and industry on all measures of competency and accountability. Instead, GE skeptics more highly trust environmental organizations to monitor GE food development. Such organizations are more attuned to the ethical and social impacts of this GE technology, a major concern among people who are cautious about these foods.

Lastly, those hesitant to buy or consume GE foods tend to be members of more vulnerable groups, such as senior citizens, women, people of color, and those with lower incomes. The gender divide is particularly stark, with roughly 60 percent of women being unwilling to eat and purposefully avoiding GE foods. About 40 percent of older Americans in the Silent and Boomer generations (generally over 60 years of age) avoid eating and buying, compared to only 22 percent among Millennials and Generation Z. Among low to moderate income Americans (earning $40,000 to $45,000 annually), only 25 percent are willing to eat. Willingness increases to 42 percent for upper middle income people (about $125,000 to $149,000), and reaches nearly 70 percent among upper Americans earning over $250,000. People of color are slightly less likely to eat GE foods than white non-Hispanics (25 versus 31%), but are just as likely as whites to avoid buying these foods.

There is considerable uncertainty regarding the degree to which the public in the United States and elsewhere will accept or purposefully avoid GEF products as more products enter the consumer marketplace. However, from this representative survey study, we clearly demonstrate that individuals’ willingness to eat, and purposeful avoidance of GEFs are primarily driven by their existing social values about food, science and technology, institutional trust, and awareness of GE foods. These antecedent, and more deeply seated core values supersede more immediate and topical concerns and opinions on the safety, cost, taste, and appearance of GEF products. Thus, this study provides a more holistic, yet granular depiction of the most influential factors which more robustly explain and predict GEF attitudes than previous studies which investigated only a partial view of what drives the one’s willingness to eat, and purposeful avoidance of GEFs. GE adopters, those willingness to eat and not avoid GEFs, are generally pro-technology, knowledgeable about GE foods, and trust government and industry actors to oversee GEF products as they enter the commercial marketplace. This group also trends as younger and having higher than average household income. Conversely, GE skeptics, those not willing to eat and who plan to avoid GEFs, tend to be driven by food ethics and beliefs, are more likely to hold strong religious beliefs, and identified as more politically conservative. This group largely distrusts government and industry actors to oversee GEF products and instead place greater trust in environmental organizations who may better represent their values with regards to food. This group also tends to be comprised women, senior citizens, and to a lesser degree people of color.

As a populous, the American public made no distinction between raw and processed GE foods. This likely indicates that the qualities of final product itself do not influence acceptance/avoidance as much as one’s values associated with GE technologies more generally. This provides further theoretical insights into how people may come to judge GE food products in the future as social values demonstrate exceeding importance in food decisions.

This study highlights a need for better consumer-focused communication and offers a scientific baseline of current U.S. public opinion regarding people’s willingness to eat, and purposeful avoidance of GE foods. Moving forward, we expect that the U.S. public’s willingness to eat and purposeful avoidance of gene edited food will change as they are engaged more readily on the developmental process and products in this area. Further study of what drives consumer preference will be warranted as more products enter the commercial marketplace and more communication reaches broader audiences.