A Comparative Analysis of Canadian Consumers’ WTP for Novel Food Technologies (Case of Juice Produced by Nanotechnology & Pork Chops Using Genomic Information)

Since novel food technologies (such as nanotechnology, cloning, genomics, etc.) are still in their infancy, communication will be very important in the development of these new technologies to address consumer perceptions and hence market acceptance of these innovations in the agri-food industry. Understanding consumer preferences is key to ensuring that the use of new technologies optimizes use of resources and societal welfare. Two national online surveys (in 2010 for nanotechnology and in 2012 for genomic information) were conducted across Canada to elicit Canadian consumers’ WTP for juice produced by nanotechnology or pork chops that are produced from pigs bred using genomic information. Canadian consumers’ WTP (i.e. whether or not they are willing to buy the products at a price over the price of goods produced without the use of the technologies), and the effects of demographic characteristics, Canadian consumers’ attitudes on their purchase intentions about products created using these novel technologies, were examined. The preliminary analysis shows that the majority of Canadians have little knowledge about use of genomic information or nanotechnology, and hence are not willing to pay a premium for these novel technologies applied to their food.