Consumers’ willingness to pay for non-GM food labeling in Thailand

Despite the fact that Thailand does not allow the commercialization of GM crops, the imports of GM soybeans, GM maize, and processed GM food are allowed under the current regulations. While the existence of GM food is unavoidable in Thailand’s market, food processors have more information on the presence of GM than the consumers. GM food labeling is a means to provide consumers with GM information. However, the current GM food labeling in Thailand only imposes a mandatory “GM labeling” for the food products containing GM ingredients while “non-GM labeling” providing information on the absence of GM ingredient is prohibited. This study uses willingness-to-pay for non-GM labeling to evaluate characteristics of consumers who are willing to pay a premium for non-GM information. The results suggest that non-GM labeling is an appropriate policy for Thailand when the majority of consumers are averse to GM food and willing to pay less for GM contaminated products or if they consider negative health impacts a serious problem.