Educated Millennials and Credence Attributes of Food Products with Genetically Modified Organisms: Knowledge, Trust and Social Media

Non-STEM majors COVID-19 vaccine impressions improve, and misconceptions resolve, after podcast assignment

Misinformation regarding vaccine science decreased the receptiveness to COVID-19 vaccines, exacerbating the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society. To mitigate the negative societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, impactful and creative science communication was needed, yet little research has explored how to encourage COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and address misconceptions held by non-Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics majors (referred to as non-majors). We have previously demonstrated that including expert guest lectures in the vaccine module in the non-major introductory biology course helps combat students' vaccine hesitancy. In the present study, we further address how learning about vaccines impacts student knowledge and impressions of the COVID-19 vaccines through a podcast assignment. As a part of this assignment, non-majors created podcasts to address COVID-19 vaccine misconceptions of their choice. We coded pre and post, open-ended essay reflections (n = 40) to assess non-majors' knowledge and impressions of the COVID-19 vaccines. Non-majors' impressions of the vaccines improved following the podcast assignment with more than three times as many students reporting a positive view of the assignment than negative views. Notably, eight of the nine interviewed students still ended the course with misconceptions about the COVID-19 vaccines, such as the vaccines being unnecessary or causing fertility issues. In a post semi-structured interview following this assignment, students (n = 7) discussed the impact of looking into the specific misconceptions related to COVID-19 vaccines themselves, including improved science communication skills and understanding of different perspectives. Thus, podcasts can provide opportunities for students to improve engagement in valuable societal topics like vaccine literacy in the non-majors classroom.

Consumer Attitude towards Genetically Modified Foods in Iran: Application of Three-Dimensional Model of Corporate Social Responsibility

Although GM food production is considered an important strategy to meet the growing food needs of the population around the world, a majority of the GM food consumers express doubts about purchasing and eating them. However, it can be argued that consumers have different opinions about GM foods and their influence on human health and the natural environment. GM food producer Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) may significantly affect such opinions, but the effect of this variable has been partially neglected in previous research studies. To address this gap, the present study investigates Iranian consumers' concerns about GM foods, trust in these products, and perception of GM food producer CSR as determinants of attitudes towards GM food. Data were collected from Iranian consumers. A cross-sectional survey research with a multi-stage random sampling approach was employed to capture the responses of 372 Iranian consumers. The results showed that consumers have both negative and positive attitudes towards GM foods. Perceived social equity, trust, and health concerns were the most important determinants of attitude towards GM foods. According to the results, these variables could account for 52.9% (Cox and Snell R²) and up to 70.6% (Nagelkerke R²) of the variance of the dependent variable. Furthermore, results revealed statistically significant differences among the consumers with different educational levels in terms of perceived social equity, perceived environmental responsibility, and environmental concern. The research contributes to the body of knowledge in GM food consumption by evolving the CSR to assess attitudes of users concerning GM foods.

Marketing Activities of Local Food Producers in E-Commerce

The food industry is characterized by a constant increase in value. The purpose of this study is to identify the most popular marketing forms used by the analyzed enterprises, which were food producers selling online among the local community and identification of the correlation of the analyzed variables with the age of companies. The survey was carried out with the use of the CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) method, and the research tool was a questionnaire. The Chi-square statistics was used to examine the dependencies of individual variables and V-Cramer coefficient was used to identify the strength of the correlation. The obtained results and their analysis enable to conclude that there is a strong relation between the number of encountered problems in conducting online sales and the period of the company’s existence. The relationship (with a moderate strength) between sources of marketing inspirations used in e-stores and the company’s age was also confirmed. Furthermore, it was noticed that the number of marketing tools increases with the period of the company’s existence. Sales promotion, social media marketing and website positioning were indicated among the most popular tools.

Factors Affecting Social Media Users' Emotions Regarding Food Safety Issues: Content Analysis of a Debate among Chinese Weibo Users on Genetically Modified Food Security

Social media is gradually building an online information environment regarding health. This environment is filled with many types of users' emotions regarding food safety, especially negative emotions that can easily cause panic or anger among the population. However, the mechanisms of how it affects users' emotions have not been fully studied. Therefore, from the perspective of communication and social psychology, this study uses the content analysis method to analyze factors affecting social media users' emotions regarding food safety issues. In total, 371 tweet samples of genetically modified food security in Sina Weibo (similar to Twitter) were encoded, measured, and analyzed. The major findings are as follows: (1) Tweet account type, tweet topic, and emotion object were all significantly related to emotion type. Tweet depth and objectivity were both positively affected by emotion type, and objectivity had a greater impact. (2) Account type, tweet topic, and emotion object were all significantly related to emotion intensity. When the depths were the same, emotion intensity became stronger with the decrease in objectivity. (3) Account type, tweet topic, emotion object, and emotion type were all significantly related to a user's emotion communication capacity. Tweet depth, objectivity, and user's emotion intensity were positively correlated with emotion communication capacity. Positive emotions had stronger communication capacities than negative ones, which is not consistent with previous studies. These findings help us to understand both theoretically and practically the changes and dissemination of user's emotions in a food safety and health information environment.

Factors Influencing Consumers’ Attitude Towards Biopreservatives

Biopreservatives have received considerable attention in recent years as natural alternatives to synthetic preservatives. This seems to be a response to an increased demand for natural and organic foods. This study investigates the potential market for products enriched with biopreservatives in Italy. Data were collected from a sample of Italian consumers (N = 479) using a web-based survey. The main results indicate that 64% of respondents declared themselves to be willing to consume biopreservatives only if they replaced synthetic preservatives. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to reduce the number of variables. The factorial scores of the components obtained from PCA were used for a Cluster Analysis related to consumers’ perceptions about biopreservatives. Moreover, the survey highlights that the respondents had positive opinions about biopreservatives, although they showed difficulty in perceiving the exact meaning of the term. The study could provide useful implications for food manufacturers and facilitate the design of marketing strategies for foods enriched with biopreservatives.