Nanofood insights: A survey of U.S. consumers’ attitudes toward the use of nanotechnology in food processing

Novel applications of nanotechnology in food processing hold tremendous potential to revolutionize the food industry and address challenges in food security and public health. Understanding and addressing consumers' evolving attitudes toward the use of nanotechnology in food processing is important to promote the technology's adoption and inform the development of regulatory frameworks that align with societal values. We used a survey research design to explore U.S. consumers' attitudes toward such uses of nanotechnology. Through the literature, we identified various cognitive and affective factors that have influenced, or have the potential to influence, consumers' attitudes, and we used those factors to develop a comprehensive regression model. We collected data from a national sample of U.S. consumers (N = 1071). The regression model accounted for 64.22% of the variance in attitudes toward nanotechnology (adjusted R