Is the consumer confused on GMOs?

I love to see surveys that help to show what consumers think.  It is a great way to shed some light on where we need to focus when trying to educate and share the facts about our food and agricultural industry.

A recent survey from Michigan State had a few interesting insights.  Here are the results of the survey and my personal commentary on the results. 

If you are looking for the survey itself you can find it here:  http://food.msu.edu/articles/msu-food-literacy-and-engagement-poll

This is a pretty easy answer for me too.   If I could eat a banana right off a tree vs one that was pulled green and allowed to ripen in the store then I am picking the one off the tree.  While this is not always feasible, I love my tomatoes fresh from the garden.   My opinion falls right in line with most of the responses here.

As expected, labels influence all of us and can be very useful.  There are many labels on our foods and we all expect some labels to be there.  I like to look at a label and see how many calories or cholesterol it may have.   However I know these labels are truly to help me make a decision for my health.   My gripe is when labels are used for pure marketing purposes.  As an example let's take salt.  Salt is not living, it can't be genetically modified, so why does it have the label?  To make money off peoples fear?  Maybe.

Labels are important when they truly help you make an informed decision on your health. But why do we need a label when we have 20 years of data showing no evidence that GMOs are unsafe.  The non-GMO label is a marketing scam in my opinion.   That "non-GMO" corn you may eat technically is genetically modified from crossing.  Here is what corn used to look like and yet even though hundreds of genes have been changed between what we eat now and what corn used to be, there are worries.  Yet it is this same corn that could carry a "Non GMO project" label!! 

There is a large "I'm not sure" answer to this one.  Hopefully this info graphic will help shed some light on the those who are unsure.  These are the only commercially available GMOs sold in the US.  So that means if you are eating a strawberry or a steak, you are not eating GMOs because none exist on the market.

 The only thing I want to hammer home here is that by the year 2050 we need to feed a lot of people!  There is a lot about the global food system that we all can learn, but one important fact is the system needs to feed a LOT of people in the coming future.  Understanding that humanity has a challenge that we all need to address and think about goes a long way towards wanting to understand how the global food system works.

Here are the facts taken from the United Nations.  https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-2017.html

The answers are pretty split on this questions.  Some people are looking where their food is coming from and some do not.  The places our food comes from can be local or it could have come from another country.  It is always interesting to pick one thing we eat and try to do the research on where it comes from.

From a very basic high level I love these maps from national geographic that show exactly where we grow food in the world.

Theses maps comes along with a really nice article to read as well:  http://www.nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/feeding-9-billion/

This is our Earth and this is where we raise crops and animals.  No more land is being created and the locations we are producing our food is pretty much it.  Even with the population going to crazy numbers by 2050, this is what we have.

 The biggest thing we can do in the fields themselves is raise our yields.  This National Geographic map shows how yields currently stand.  This maps always makes me get a little nervous.  Yields are already high in many parts of the world.  There is room for improvement, but the way we produce food will need to change.  This will range from agricultural practices and political policy changes and everyone should try to understand where our food is coming from and how it is grown to help with the coming challenges.

This trend to pay more for "healthy food" seems to be gaining traction at least in surveys.  In another survey in 2015 the same trend was seen:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nancygagliardi/2015/02/18/consumers-want-healthy-foods-and-will-pay-more-for-them/#1a6afa2f75c5

I think it really remains to be seen how all of this will play out.   I have a couple of thoughts.  Maybe US and even European consumers are willing to pay more, but they also have more money.  How about the other billions of people in the world that need to eat?   I admit I can quickly become siloed in my bubble where I have the means and choice to buy more expensive food if it really has less sodium or some other health benefit.

I also think that the word "healthy" is not defined the same across our population.  I may think sure, if product A and B are mostly the same but B has less bad cholesterol it is heather.  However if product B is GMO then I also believe it is healthy and I know for a fact many don't believe that.

Regardless I think this quote from the same Forbes article sums it up quite nicely.

I am concerned about the safety of my food too.   Who wants to go to a store, buy some lettuce and come away with a E.coli infection.   No one with a peanut allergy wants to to eat chips and have an allergic reaction because the chips were processed in a plant with peanuts.   And of course we wonder how GMOs will affect our food.  Are they safe?   Hey I wouldn't be a good scientist if I didn't ask the same questions.  I feed my kids GMOs, but because I believe in their safety.  Here are some great infographics that summarize the facts.  You can find those reports and literature with some google searching if you really want to dig in.

Organic practices yield food that can also be safe and taste good.  My biggest concern with orgainics goes back to question 5.   Once we realize that our population is going to up in a crazy way, then we realize we need to produce more food.  And the facts are pretty straightforward.  Organic is not the answer to increasing yields.   Take a good look at this study and I have attached a few slides from it as well.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/283996769/The-Yield-Gap-For-Organic-Farming


Here is some info on the study:

 This is just one set of data form that study.   Organic yields are way down for row crops compared to conventional growing methods.   As the author states, right now organic is niche, but why put so much effort into this method of farming when it is not doing anything for our world problem?

This question saddens me most I think.  I have worked in industry for about 15 years.   These questions show that industry has the most work to do to gain trust back from consumers.   I can offer to answer any questions anyone may have.   I actually love giving tours at work.  Usually the response is "wow!  that was really cool.  I know know a lot more about you do."   Find someone who works in industry and have a conversation with them.

I can promise that I believe in what I do and am happy to answer any questions.  We are people that care about our family and friends just like you.

This is the question that leads me to believe the most that consumers are confused.  The fact on this one is all living things have genes.   So GMO, organic, non-GMO, bananas, fish, human, ants, and everything in between is full of genes.  The fact that 37% of people in this survey think only GMOs have have genes show that we still have a long way to go towards understanding our food.  

All plants and animals have cells.  While there are differences in the cells,  DNA that are home to all these genes are found mostly in the nucleus.

https://www.difference.wiki/plant-cell-vs-animal-cell/

Science uses many different techniques to to mix up this DNA and create new traits.  In many ways all of our food is a GMO because genes were moved and modified to give us everything we currently eat.

When it comes to food people have very strong opinions, even if those opinions are not based on facts.  In fact a quick google search shows all kinds of information that aims to use fear to persuade you that GMOs are bad.  And when so many people think that only GMOs have genes it is real easy to persuade them that GMOs are bad.   We have to keep getting the facts out there and I hope these resources and thoughts will be a start.