The degree of trust in risk managers heavily influences the public's acceptance of new technologies. The present study examined factors affecting public trust in risk managers, integrating the salient value similarity (SVS) model and the traditional view of trust. A thousand residents in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures participated in a survey that investigated public trust in the government offices responsible for the decision to approve a genetically modified rice that claims to inhibit pollen allergies. In the high interest group, giving moral meaning to the outcomes of the decision was found to be a powerful predictor of trust. Perceived agreement in values between individuals and the regulators was also found to influence trust in decisions, as predicted by the SVS model. On the other hand, as expected with the traditional perspective on trust, a perception of procedural competency and a belief in the fairness of the risk managers were found to be powerful predictors of trust in the low interest group. Implications of these results for the practice of risk management were discussed.