Technological innovation at the dining table. Analysis on the attitude of public opinion about food science and technology of the future

This paper aims to examine the public perception of food safety and the public opinion on science and technology applied to food. In the last years, technology has been increasingly used in food production. Istances of food technology have already been tried: from synthetic-burgers to nano-food. From recent Eurobarometer surveys, it emerged that Italians are among the most doubtful ones with regards to a possible positive impact on food quality due to technological innovations in the next fifteen years. On the contrary, dutches are, among Europeans, the most favorable to these innovations. This paper investigates what perspective public opinion has towards food innovations, through the analysis of secondary data and information from the most reliable national and international sources. The text presents an overview of the current situation; it subsequently makes a comparison between the major European countries. Furthermore, I would also like to include a comparison between Italy and Netherlands, as a polarization between "favorable" and "contrary" to food technoscientific innovations is definite. Citizens opinions about this matter are a result of a complex process of cultural development that involves moral principles, expectations, concerns about the future, economic interests and political guidelines. Moreover, a better understanding on the social factors that influence the behaviour of citizens will be necessary to highlight the weaknesses of traditional arguments that tried to explain citizens’ adversion towards techno-science applied to food industry: the so-called "scientific illiteracy" does not seem to justify the discrepancies between citizens and experts.