Consumer Survey Says Taste Rules When It Comes to Table Grapes
March 20, 2023 A Washington State University-led survey of U.S. consumers to assess how accepting they might be of gene-edited table grapes found most folks don’t seem to care much about the issue.
For the study published in the journal PLOS One, researchers surveyed more than 2,800 people across the U.S., even though no such grapes are yet on the market.
Most participants cared more about the grapes’ taste, followed by their appearance, than how the grapes were bred. The respondents also ranked a preference for fewer pesticides, third, and only fourth, did they express a slight preference for traditionally bred grapes over gene-edited ones.
“In general, the biggest thing they cared about is taste, the flavor-related attributes,” says Karina Gallardo, a WSU Economics Professor and corresponding author on the study. “They did state wanting a price reduction for gene editing, but the difference was not statistically significant, which means they were basically indifferent.”
More than half the survey participants said they knew the difference between the gene-editing technology CRISPR and genetic engineering, but they couldn’t state what exactly that difference was.
CRISPR is a tool for gene editing, which means altering the DNA sequence of a plant or animal usually with the aim of improving its characteristics. Gene-edited changes are ones that could occur naturally or through traditional plant breeding but would take much longer without this tool.
Genetic engineering, also sometimes called genetic modification, is a process that involves combining genes from different species that would not occur naturally. Both technologies are considered safe by scientists, but there is considerable stigma around genetic engineering and the sale of genetically modified organisms is banned in some countries.
Gallardo says gene editing will be an increasingly important tool for producers to meet demand for food especially in the face of climate change and its associated increase in plant diseases and pests.
“We cannot rely on the plant breeding technologies of 30 to 40 years ago to make improvements we badly need now,” Gallardo says. “People should know that this technology is safe. Gene editing has been developed in academia, so everything is transparent. We publish everything we do. Nothing is hidden.”
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