74 Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.5 (3&4), July-October 2007 Preferences of Turkish people for irradiated, GM or organic foods Arzu Cagri Mehmetoglu Sakarya University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Food Engineering, Esentepe, Sakarya, Turkey. *e-mail: acagri@sakarya.edu.tr Received 19 April 2007, accepted 22 July 2007. Abstract Through commercial application, new technologies may improve health, agriculture, farming practices and the quality of foods. However, along with the array of potential benefits are potential risks and uncertainties surrounding the commercial applications of these technologies. In this study, a survey was prepared to receive opinion of Turkish People living in the most populated area of Turkey about irradiated foods, food additives and organic foods and genetically modified foods. Survey questions were asked to 1226 people (626 women and 600 men) in 4 different age groups (15- 30, 31-45, 46- 60, 61-90 years old). Questions were generally prepared to expose their knowledge and awareness about food additives, organic foods, irradiation, genetically modified foods or hormone residues in foods. Most of them think that consuming food containing some of the food additives can lead to some health problems. The half of the participants did not have knowledge about food irradiation. The results of the current study also indicated that 9% of respondents did not concern for the safety of irradiated foods; however, 69% of them concerned very much. In addition, the present study indicated that only 8% of respondents thought that GM foods were safe, 69% thought that they were little risky, 23% of them thought they were extremely risky for our health. All participants with different age, gender, income level or education level had negative thought about hormone residues in food products. Interestingly, 29 and 18% of them did not have knowledge about organic foods and believed that they can be unhealthy, respectively. In conclusion, the most of the participants, especially 31-45 years old and high income people, were cautious about what they purchase. Key words: Survey, irradiated, GM, organic foods, food additives, hormone residues. www.world-food.net Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment Vol.5 (3&4) : 74-80. 2007 WFL Publisher Science and Technology Meri-Rastilantie 3 B, FI-00980 Helsinki, Finland e-mail: info@world-food.net Introduction The role of consumer has changed dramatically in recent decades. Along with rapid changes and altered power relations in the food system, new problems and new opportunities for informed and competent consumers are emerging. There is need for increased knowledge of consumer attitudes and valuations in the marketplace. Food irradiation, one of the new technologies, refers to the application of ionizing energy to foods. It is a nonthermal processing method that offers a means of preservation that destroys microorganisms. Since the quantity of energy absorbed by foods during irradiation process does not make them radioactive, safety and efficiency of food irradiation process has been approved by several authorities (FDA, USDA, WHO, FAO, Food Codex Alimentary, etc.) and scientific societies based on extensive research 1-3 . However, in food industry, application of food irradiation is still limited due to poor consumer acceptance, and the refusal of major retailers to stock irradiated products has postponed the approval of this technology 4, 5 . From consumer surveys, people concern about carcinogenicity of irradiated foods, risk to workers in irradiation facilities, pollution from these facilities and risk of transportation of radioactive materials 4, 6, 7 . People in Turkey also generally concern about safety of radiation use in food industry 8 . Due to only few survey studies on the awareness or attitude of Turkish people toward food irradiation, our pilot study will fill the gap in literature. Genetically modified (GM) foods production is applied generally in order to improve the pesticide resistance of crops and to prolong the shelf-life of the end product. However, many of the potential hazards may arise in crop plants as a consequence of genetic engineering 9 . Risks may arise as a consequence of the biosynthesis of toxins, allergens or genetic hazards in foods derived from genetically engineered crops. Alternatively, hazards may occur from the elimination of metabolites that play important roles in reducing health risks, e.g., antioxidants. Unlike developed countries, regulations on GM foods in Turkey have been recently beginning to shape up. Cartagena, the first biosafety protocol, was signed with other countries in 2000 to ensure an adequate level of protection on biological diversity from the potential risks resulted by modern technology, specially focusing on trans- boundary movements. Moreover, the food law (No. 5179) that controls all commercialized foods was implemented in May 2004. A draft of national biosafety law has been given one month for public reactions or views and then was implemented 10 . GM foods are often outspokenly opposed to by consumer groups, and even more so by environmental organizations, especially in Europe 11- 13 . However, the results of other studies show that the consumers are much less worried about GM foods in the US and many developing countries 14-16 . Consumers’ acceptance of GM food in US ranged from 50 to 59% 16 , but has declined slightly over time 17 . Likewise, in Turkey, according to one pilot survey conducted