Research Article
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Year 2026, Issue: Advanced Online Publication, 149 - 164, 01.03.2026
https://doi.org/10.3153/FH26013
https://izlik.org/JA79YW75DW

Abstract

References

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Predictors of attitudes towards genetically modified foods among university students: Gender, environmentalism, and food neophobia

Year 2026, Issue: Advanced Online Publication, 149 - 164, 01.03.2026
https://doi.org/10.3153/FH26013
https://izlik.org/JA79YW75DW

Abstract

Understanding university students' attitudes regarding genetically modified foods (GMOs) and the factors that influence their attitudes is crucial for both academic and societal contexts. This research aimed to identify the determinants of university students' attitudes towards GMOs, specifically examining the influence of gender, food neophobia, and environmental awareness as predictors. The study conducted a cross-sectional analytical face-to-face interview technique with students from December 2024 to January 2025. The questionnaire included socio-demographic data, general eating habits, the Attitude Towards Genetically Modified Organisms Scale, the Food Neophobia Scale, and the environmentalism sub-dimension of the Lifestyle of Healthy and Sustainable Scale. The majority of participants (75.2%) were female, while 24.8% were male. The mean age of the participants was 21.7±1.5 years, and their mean BMI was 23.1±3.7 kg/m². In response to inquiries on legal regulations concerning GMOs in Türkiye, 21.6% of females and 17.1% of males affirmed the existence of such regulations (p<0.05). The mean overall score on the attitude scale towards GMOs was 75.6±11.8 for females and 72.2±15.0 for males. The environmentalism subscale of the healthy and sustainable living scale had a mean score of 30.4±5.4 for females and 28.7±6.7 for males. In contrast, the total score of the food neophobia scale was 40.6±9.9 and 38.6±9, respectively. Gender significantly moderated the correlation between environmentalism and GMO total scores (B=0.521, SE=0.201, p=0.010, ΔR²=0.012). The conditional effect analysis revealed that the impact of environmentalism scores on GMO totals was significant for both females (B=0.938, SE=0.115, p<0.001) and males (B=1.460, SE=0.164, p<0.001). It is believed that university students' attitudes on GMOs are not sufficiently positive; however, their high level of environmental consciousness and propensity for food neophobic behaviour. To more precisely represent social opinions and behaviours, gender should be used as a moderating variable in research or treatments concerning GMO attitudes.

Ethical Statement

Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee approval (Decision date: 08.01.2025; number: GO 2025/994) was obtained for the conduct of the study. Participating students were informed about the study, and the informed consent form was read. The study was conducted with volunteer students. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association, 2024).

Thanks

The authors would like to thank the students who took part in the study.

References

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There are 52 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Public Health Nutrition, Nutrition and Dietetics (Other), Food Sustainability
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Mustafa Özgür 0000-0002-7801-7932

Sude Yanık 0009-0008-3945-9456

Elif Öksüz 0009-0005-0421-4932

Ayşe Damla Şahin 0009-0007-8068-8691

Submission Date August 19, 2025
Acceptance Date January 4, 2026
Early Pub Date March 1, 2026
Publication Date March 1, 2026
DOI https://doi.org/10.3153/FH26013
IZ https://izlik.org/JA79YW75DW
Published in Issue Year 2026 Issue: Advanced Online Publication

Cite

APA Özgür, M., Yanık, S., Öksüz, E., & Şahin, A. D. (2026). Predictors of attitudes towards genetically modified foods among university students: Gender, environmentalism, and food neophobia. Food and Health, Advanced Online Publication, 149-164. https://doi.org/10.3153/FH26013

Aim & Scope

Our journal started its publication life as "Journal of Food and Health Sciences" between 2015-2017. In 2018, its name was changed to "Food and Health". The journal “Food and Health” publishes peer-reviewed (double-blind) original research, communication and review articles covering all aspects of food science and its effects on health. Its team of experts aims to provide editorial excellence, fast publishing processes and high visibility for the article.

Food, Seafood, Food Technology, Food Chemistry, Food Microbiology, Food Quality, Food Safety, Food Contaminant, Food Allergen, Food Packaging, Modified Food, Functional Food, Dietary Supplements, Nutrition and their health effect is the general topics of journal.

Manuscripts submitted to "Food and Health" journal will go through a double-blind peer-review process. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two external, independent peer reviewers who are experts in their fields in order to ensure an unbiased evaluation process. The editorial board will invite an external and independent editor to manage the evaluation processes of manuscripts submitted by editors or by the editorial board members of the journal. Our journal will be published quarterly in English or Turkish language. 

Food and Health” journal does not charge article submission, processing or publication fees. 

Diamond Open Access refers to a scholarly publication model in which journals and platforms do not charge fees to either authors or readers.

Open Access Statement:
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Article evaluation and submission rules for reviewers and authors are given in the link below.


https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/27139

FOOD and HEALTH” journal aims to contribute to the literature by publishing manuscripts at the highest scientific level on all fields of food sciences. The journal publishes original research and review articles that are prepared in accordance with the ethical guidelines.
The target audience of the journal includes specialists and professionals working and interested in all disciplines of food sciences and food/nutrition related with health.
The editorial and publication processes of the journal are the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), Council of Science Editors (CSE), Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), European Association of Science Editors (EASE), Open Access Scholarly and Publishers Association (OASPA), and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) guidelines. "FOOD and HEALTH" journal also complies with the "Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing".
Originality, high scientific quality, and citation potential are the most important criteria for a manuscript to be accepted for publication. Manuscripts submitted for evaluation should not have been previously presented or already published in an electronic or printed medium. The journal should be informed of manuscripts that have been submitted to another journal for evaluation and rejected for publication. The submission of previous reviewer reports will expedite the evaluation process. Manuscripts that have been presented in a meeting should be submitted with detailed information on the organization, including the name, date, and location of the organization.
Manuscripts submitted to “FOOD and HEALTH” journal will go through a double-blind peer-review process. Each submission will be reviewed by at least two external, independent peer reviewers who are experts in their fields in order to ensure an unbiased evaluation process. The editorial board will invite an external and independent editor to manage the evaluation processes of manuscripts submitted by editors or by the editorial board members of the journal. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all submissions.
An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international agreements (World Medical As­sociation Declaration of Helsinki “Ethical Principles for Medi­cal Research Involving Human Subjects,” amended in October 2013, www.wma.net) is required for experimental, clinical, and drug studies. If required, ethics committee reports or an equiva­lent official document will be requested from the authors.
For manuscripts concerning experimental research on hu­mans, a statement should be included that shows the written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. Information on patient consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the ethics committee approval number should also be stated in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. It is the authors’ responsibility to carefully pro­tect the patients’ anonymity. For photographs that may reveal the identity of the patients, signed releases of the patient or of their legal representative should be enclosed.
FOOD and HEALTH” journal requires experimental research stu­dies on vertebrates or any regulated invertebrates to comply with relevant institutional, national and/or international guidelines. The journal supports the principles of Basel Declaration (basel-declara­tion.org) and the guidelines published by International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) (iclas.org). Authors are advised to clearly state their compliance with relevant guidelines.
FOOD and HEALTH” journal advises authors to comply with IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora for research involving plants.
All submissions are screened by a similarity detection software.
In the event of alleged or suspected research misconduct, e.g., plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, the Editorial Board will follow and act in accordance with COPE guidelines.
Each individual listed as an author should fulfil the authorship criteria recommended by the
ICMJE. The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:
1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he/she has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors.
All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged in the title page of the manuscript.
FOOD and HEALTH” journal requires and encourages the authors and the individuals involved in the evaluation process of submitted manuscripts to disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interests, including financial, consultant, and institutional, that might lead to potential bias or a conflict of interest. Any financial grants or other support received for a submitted study from individuals or institutions should be disclosed to the Editorial Board. To disclose a potential conflict of interest, the ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by all contributing authors. Cases of a potential conflict of interest of the editors, authors, or reviewers are resolved by the journal’s Editorial Board within the scope of COPE and ICMJE guidelines.
The Editorial Board of the journal handles all appeal and complaint cases within the scope of COPE guidelines. In such cases, authors should get in direct contact with the editorial office regarding their appeals and complaints. When needed, an ombudsperson may be assigned to resolve cases that cannot be resolved internally. The Editor in Chief is the final authority in the decision-making process for all appeals and complaints.
When submitting a manuscript to “FOOD and HEALTH” journal, authors accept to assign the copyright of their manuscript to ScientificWebJournals. If rejected for publication, the copyright of the manuscript will be assigned back to the authors. Food and Health requires each submission to be accompanied by a Copyright Transfer Form (available for download at https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/journal-file/19582). When using previously published content, including figures, tables, or any other material in both print and electronic formats, authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder. Legal, financial and criminal liabilities in this regard belong to the author(s).
Statements or opinions expressed in the manuscripts published in “FOOD and HEALTH” journal reflect the views of the author(s) and not the opinions of the editors, the editorial board, or the publisher; the editors, the editorial board, and the publisher disclaim any responsibility or liability for such materials. The final responsibility in regard to the published content rests with the authors. The copyright of any open-access article in the "FOOD and HEALTH" journal publisched on the "ScientificWebJournals" web portal hosted by ULAKBİM "DergiPark" belongs to the author(s). Archiving is done according to ULAKBİM "DergiPark"  publication policy (LOCKSS).
DUTIES OF REVIWERS

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

DUTIES OF AUTHORS

Reporting Standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects

If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental Errors in Published Works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

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The copyright of any open access article in the "FOOD and HEALTH" journal published on the "ScientificWebJournals" web portal hosted by "DergiPark" belongs to the author(s).

Authors grant "FOOD AND HEALTH" a license to publish the article and identify it self as the original publisher.

Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.

Publisher retains the exclusive right to publish the work. The CC BY 4.0 license permits unlimited distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially

Processing and publication are free of charge with the journal. There is no article processing charges or submission fees for any submitted or accepted articles.

Diamond Open Access refers to a scholarly publication model in which journals and platforms do not charge fees to either authors or readers.

Open Access Statement:
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Sorumlu Editör

Nutrition and Dietetics, Public Health, Food Sciences, Food Packaging, Preservation and Processing, Food Biotechnology, Food Safety, Traceability, Certification and Authenticity, Food Chemistry and Food Sensory Science, Food Microbiology, Food Technology, Post-Harvest Fisheries Technologies (Incl. Transportation), Veterinary Food Hygiene and Technology

Sorumlu Editör Yardımcısı

Food Properties, Food Engineering, Food Sciences, Aquaculture and Fisheries, Post-Harvest Fisheries Technologies (Incl. Transportation), Fisheries Technologies

Language Editors

Nutrition and Dietetics (Other), Food Packaging, Preservation and Processing, Food Safety, Traceability, Certification and Authenticity, Food Chemistry and Food Sensory Science, Food Microbiology, Food Technology, Food Sciences (Other), Fisheries Technologies

Ethics Editor

Enzymes, Cell Metabolism, Computational Chemistry, Molecular Medicine, Proteins and Peptides

Editörler Kurulu

Food Sciences, Food Biotechnology, Food Safety, Traceability, Certification and Authenticity, Food Microbiology, Food Sustainability, Enzyme and Microbial Biotechnology in Agriculture
Food Nutritional Balance, Food Engineering, Functional Foods, Food Consumption
Food Technology, Food Sciences (Other), Fisheries Technologies
Food Engineering, Food Sciences, Food Microbiology
Biological Sciences, Nanobiotechnology, Molecular Genetics
Nutrition and Dietetics, Food Sciences
Nutritional Science, Food Properties, Food Nutritional Balance, Food Engineering, Food Packaging, Preservation and Processing, Food Biotechnology, Food Chemistry and Food Sensory Science, Post-Harvest Fisheries Technologies (Incl. Transportation), Fisheries Technologies
Photonics, Optoelectronics and Optical Communications, General Physics, Electronic and Magnetic Properties of Condensed Matter; Superconductivity
Food Engineering, Fermentation Technology, Food Packaging, Preservation and Processing, Food Safety, Traceability, Certification and Authenticity, Food Microbiology, Food Sciences (Other)
Nanobiotechnology, Nanotoxicology, Health and Safety

16339

Journal is licensed under a

CreativeCommons Attribtion-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence  14627 1331027042
Diamond Open Access refers to a scholarly publication model in which journals and platforms do not charge fees to either authors or readers.

Open Access Statement:

This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Archiving Policy:

27222

Archiving is done according to ULAKBİM "DergiPark" publication policy (LOCKSS).