KOREASCHOLAR

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in perception of food hygiene and interest in dietary information among university students. A total of 550 college students from Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area participated in this questionnaire using one-to-one interviews from September 20th to 28th, 2012. Three groups were classified according to level of awareness and practice of food safety. The highest education level of food safety was in the active-practice group (69.6%), with 58.0% in the want-practice group and 24.6% in the low-practice group. There were significant differences between the awareness and practice groups in terms of importance of food safety (p<0.001). Exactly 74.3% interest in food hygiene was measured in the active-practice group. Interests in dietary and food information were different between the groups: 71.4% for the active-practice group versus 24.6% for the low-practice group (p<0.001). Lowpractice group showed the lowest scores for interests in organic food, pesticide-free food, low-pesticide food, slow food, LOHAS, healthy-functional food, nutritional labels, and expiration dates. In conclusion, appropriate levels of food hygiene and food safety education should be provided by the food industry according to perception of food awareness and practice of food safety.

• 강남이(을지대학교 식품영양학과) | Nam-E Kang
• 윤혜려(국립공주대학교 외식상품학전공) | Hei-Ryeo Yoon
• 김주현(동서울대학교 관광학부 호텔외식조리과) | Juhyeon Kim Corresponding author