This survey was conducted to monitor the total sugar, sodium, and artificial sweetener contents of light meals from the school zone in Gwangju, from November, 2008 to April, 2009. A total of 100 samples were tested. HPLC/ELSD was used for the determination of total sugar contents and AAS for sodium contents. Total sugar amounts were the sum of both mono-and disaccharide according to nutritional information standard defined by the Korea Food and Drug Administration. The results were as follows by the form of total sugar content(sodium content): 5.7 ± 1.9%(4.6 ± 1.6 mg/g) for Tteokbokki, 7.6 ± 5.1%(5.4 ± 2.7 mg/g) for Chicken(skewed), 15.4 ± 3.2%(3.0 ± 0.9 mg/g) for Bun(fish-shaped), 0.6 ± 0.3%(3.7 ± 1.0 mg/g) for Sundae, 0.9 ± 0.3%(7.4 ± 1.4 mg/g) for Oden(with broth), 20.5 ± 6.2%(2.9 ± 0.6 mg/g) for Waffle, 6.8 ± 2.2%(4.7 ± 1.0 mg/g) for Hotdog, 14.2 ± 2.8%(3.1 ± 1.6 mg/g) for Hotteok, 6.6 ± 2.1%(3.9 ± 0.6 mg/g) for Toast, 10.1 ± 3.7%(2.3 ± 0.7 mg/g) for Fry(sweet potato), 1.6 ± 0.7% (4.0 ± 0.7 mg/g) for Fry(etc), and 9.3 ± 2.4%(4.0 ± 0.6 mg/g) for Doughnut. In addition, sodium saccharin, one of the artificial sweeteners, was tested. Among 60 samples from February to April, 2009, 11 samples had sodium saccharin(6.7~101.0 mg/kg).

This study was carried out to evaluate the consumer recognition with regard to the safety management for imported foods. In order to evaluate the effect of the prgram on consumer education, the program was practiced for 89 female college students in Seoul, Korea. The participants were given an instruction with materials on imported food safety, including the safety management of imported foods and their distribution. The results showed that the participants achieved a greater understanding of imported foods. In particular, they had firmly grasped the importance of expiration date in selecting imported foods. Before the instruction, 50.6% of total participants blamed the Korean government for the problems arising from imported foods; only 18.0% placed the blame on individuals or businesses importing from foreign countries. After the instruction, 39.3% had blamed the individuals or businesses importing from foreign countries. Furthermore, 36.0% had disapproved of the foods that are imported from China before the instruction, while 32.6% found objectionable the views on the illegally distributed foods; 29.2% criticized the junk foods that target children (after the instruction). In addition, the level of participant satisfaction via-a-vis imported foods safety supervision had improved from 2.76 ± 1.59(before the instruction) to 3.37 ± 1.58(after the instruction). The results indicate that consumers are concerned with the imported foods that contain adulterated or forbidden substances and the illegally distributed foods from foreign countries. Thus, consistent and informative educational programs on imported food safety could help consumers in choosing safer products, resulting in an improvement in the consumer confidence with respect to imported foods.

The simultaneous determination of residual pesticides was developed using a gas chromatography. In this study, a simple and reliable methodology was improved to detect 175 kinds of residual pesticides by a liquid-liquid extraction procedure, followed by chromatographic analysis by gas chromatography. The 175 kinds of residual pesticides was classified into 4 groups according to the chemical structure, column type, resolution and sensitivity. The soybean sample selected for recovery experiment was not detected any pesticides. The recovery rates were ranged from 70.6% to 119.7% in most pesticides. The relative standard deviation (RSD 0.3~5.6%) was lower than 5.6% in all cases. The limits of detection (LOD) was lower than the maximum residue levels established by Korean legislations. The method has been successfully applied to the analysis of approximately 130 real samples.