Rural Development and Planning Division, Institute for Rural Engineering, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 2-1-6 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8609, Japan.
Appetite. 2011 Oct;57(2):459-66. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2011.06.011. Epub 2011 Jun 24.
Novel food technologies, such as cloning, have been introduced into the meat production sector; however, their use is not widely supported by many consumers. This study was designed to assess whether Japanese consumers' attitudes toward consumption of cloned beef (specifically, beef derived from bovine embryo and somatic cell-cloned cattle) would change after they were provided with technological information on animal cloning through a web-based survey. The results revealed that most respondents did not discriminate between their attitudes toward the consumption of the two types of cloned beef, and that most respondents did not change their attitudes toward cloned beef after receiving the technological information. The respondents' individual characteristics, including their knowledge about the food safety of cloned beef and their basic knowledge about animal cloning, influenced the likelihood of a change in their attitudes after they received the information. In conclusion, some consumers might become less uncomfortable about the consumption of cloned beef by the straightforward provision of technological information about animal cloning; however, most consumers are likely to maintain their attitudes.
新型食品技术，如克隆技术，已经被引入肉类生产领域；然而，许多消费者并不广泛支持它们的使用。本研究旨在评估日本消费者在通过网络调查获得有关动物克隆的技术信息后，对食用克隆牛肉（具体而言，来自牛胚胎和体细胞克隆牛的牛肉）的态度是否会发生变化。结果表明，大多数受访者对两种类型的克隆牛肉的消费态度没有区别，并且大多数受访者在收到技术信息后没有改变对克隆牛肉的态度。受访者的个体特征，包括他们对克隆牛肉食品安全的了解程度以及他们对动物克隆的基本知识，影响了他们在收到信息后改变态度的可能性。总之，通过简单地提供有关动物克隆的技术信息，一些消费者可能会对食用克隆牛肉的态度变得不那么不舒服；然而，大多数消费者可能会保持他们的态度。
