Profiling Young Consumers’ Perceptions of GMO Products: A Case Study on Italian Undergraduate Students

This study focuses on Italian undergraduate students to identify and to characterise distinct hypothetical consumer segments by their knowledge of GMO food. We used data from a survey of 243 undergraduate students from three Italian universities to draw profiles of groups of consumers based on their opinions about GMO products. The main findings show that type of education plays a large role in students’ perception of GMOs. In particular, students in technical and natural science programs (60.90% of the sample) differ from those enrolled in Social Sciences programs (22.63% of respondents). With the former having a better perception of GMO products than the latter.