Supplemental material for: Public acceptance of emerging biotechnologies in animal agriculture

Understanding public acceptance of these technologies and views about food produced using them is essential to inform technology development. We conducted a mixed-method survey with North American participants (n = 1,340) and used a hypothesized causal trust-acceptability model and open-ended questions to investigate acceptance of two biotechnologies: antimicrobial peptides (AMP) and gene editing (GE).

Structural equation modeling showed that trust in institutions had the largest total effect on acceptance, acting primarily through indirect pathways of increased perceived benefit and reduced perceived risk, with a smaller but direct effect on acceptance. Participants had higher levels of trust in institutions and perceived AMP to be more beneficial, acceptable, and less risky compared to GE. In open-ended responses, participants wanted to know more about AMP and GE (e.g., purpose, mechanisms of action) and had specific questions related to biotechnology risks and safety, animal welfare, and human impacts.