This study examined the influence of consumers’ knowledge on their perceptions and purchase intentions toward genetically modified foods, and the implications of these consumer responses for sustainable development in the food industry. This study distinguished between objective and subjective knowledge and identified how an imbalance between the two knowledge types influenced consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions toward genetically modified foods. Results of a multinomial regression analysis showed that consumers with higher levels of education, income, and food involvement and more exposure to negative information about genetically modified foods tended to overestimate their actual knowledge level. The overestimation group showed a higher risk perception, lower benefit perception, and lower intention to purchase genetically modified foods than other participants. Consumers with less education and higher income were more likely to underestimate their knowledge.

The essential value of sustainability has warranted firms to disclose their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) visions. We conducted a significant data analysis using text mining to assess Korean companies’ ESG perceptions in accordance with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) suggested by the United Nations. Bigram frequency, term frequency–inverse document frequency, semantic network, and convergence of iteration correlation analyses were performed in this study. The results indicate that Korean companies focus on consumer protection, especially digital human rights. However, efforts toward global partnerships, as emphasized by the SDGs, were not apparent. These results suggest important ESG values for countries advancing toward the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which will ultimately contribute to global cooperation and sustainable development.