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People were the least clear about what they are buying from the supermarket. While 28.4 per cent of respondents said they had bought a plant-based GM food in the past, 19.4 per cent say they had not, and a whopping 52.2 per cent said they were not sure if they had or hadn’t. When it came to genetically modified animals, the uncertainty level was even higher, at 55.5 per cent.

That’s despite the fact that 90 per cent of all crops grown in Canada are genetically modified and an estimated 75 to 85 per cent of the food available for sale has at least one GM ingredient, said Sylvain Charlebois, dean of management at Dalhousie University and lead author of the study.

“The likelihood that you have never eaten something genetically modified is very low,” said Charlebois, who believes consumers’ confusion about bioengineered food likely stems from the fact that labelling of GM products and ingredients is not mandatory in Canada, only voluntary. In Europe, where consumers have been more wary about genetic modification of plants and animals, European Union legislation requires food with more than 0.9 per cent of GM ingredients to be labelled as such in retail stores.

“People who are supportive of biotechnology would argue that there is little risk (from GM food), and it’s true — from a food safety perspective, the science is very clear,” said Charlebois, who believes GM food should nevertheless be labelled.

The survey found that 88.6 per cent of respondents said GMO food and ingredients should be labelled as such in Canada.