Aceptación de aceite transgénico de distinto país de origen en la Región de La Araucanía, Chile

considering the rejection by consumers of genetically modified foods, and that the country of origin is used as an indicator of quality, a study was done of the relative importance of the existence of genetic modification (gm), the origin and the price in the purchase of sunflower oil in temuco through a survey of 400 people; at the same time different market segments were identified and characterized. it was determined by conjoint analysis that the existence of gm (36.0%) was slightly more important than country of origin (33.3%) and price (30.7%) in the total sample, with a preference for product with no gm, of chilean origin and at a lower price. three segments were distinguished by analysis of hierarchical conglomerates. the majority segment (45.5%) attributed great importance to the existence of gm and presented high rejection of transgenic vegetable oil. the second group (29.7%) assigned greater importance to the price and accepted argentinean oil. the minority group (24.8%) attributed greater importance to country of origin and accepted spanish oil. regardless of the above distinctions, all groups expressed a greater preference for chilean oil. the absence of gm in vegetable oil is a desirable condition for a large proportion of consumers (45.5%), but the rest were relatively indifferent to the existence or absence of genetic manipulation in this product.