Attitudes analysis towards genetically modified food

Hunger, food safety, and unsustainable agriculture are currently among the main global issues. Agricultural technology is focused on making agriculture and the food industry sustainable and profitable. Healthy diets, food waste, and food origin are issues that concern European citizens, with Croatians having general mistrust towards genetically modified food. The research problem was to determine Croatian citizens' attitudinal dimensions and differences towards genetically modified food considering the level and method of obtaining information. Quantitative, descriptive research was conducted using an online survey. The questionnaire was forwarded to respondents via digital channels (snowball sampling method). The results have shown the existence of three factors that group attitudes towards genetically modified food using exploratory factor analysis: (1) impact on health & general acceptance, (2) impact on the environment, and (3) impact on the economy. Overall agreement considering the positive effect of genetically modified foods on all three factors is moderate to low, with the "health & general acceptance" factor scoring the lowest. There was no statistically significant difference for any factor considering whether respondents were informed about genetically modified food, source of information (scientific vs. non-scientific), and time of informing; although there are tendencies for more positive attitudes towards genetically modified food among informed respondents, especially when they gathered information via scientific sources.