Opinion polls and marketing trials with irradiated food

There is a widely held perception among policy makers, food industries and some governments that consumers would be reluctant to accept irradiated food. This opinion has given opposition groups the basis upon which to make the further claim that consumers would reject such food. Indeed, some opinion polls conducted in some Western countries tend to support this claim. It should be noted that these polls were conducted in countries where no irradiated food was available at the retail level. It is clear from these polls that the majority of consumers had never heard of food irradiation much less knew the benefits which they may expect from it. Initially, most consumers appeared to confuse irradiated food with food contaminated with radionuclides (radioactive food). However, when provided with factual information on food irradiation, higher percentages of consumers appeared to be more willing to buy irradiated food. The situation was quite different when marketing trials of irradiated food were conducted in several countries in the past 5 years, often at the place where non-irradiated food of the same kind were available. These trials conducted in countries such as France, U.S.A., Bangladesh, China, Philippines and Thailand showed that, when consumers had informed choices, they preferred to buy irradiated food, probably on the basis of their higher quality or perceived greater safety. Details of marketing trials of different irradiated food items conducted in the past 5 years will be described. (author). 21 refs, 1 tab