This study investigated consumers’ awareness and information need about food hygiene especially focused on pesticide residues and food borne illness in Korea. The data were collected from 350 adults living in Daegu and Busan, Korea by a self‐administered questionnaire. Frequency and chi‐square tests were conducted by SPSS. The results of the survey were as follows: Firstly the consumers’ concerns about food hygiene were high. About three‐fourths of the respondents answered that they were ‘somewhat’ or ‘highly’ concerned about pesticide residues and food borne illness. Especially women and the older showed more concerns than men and the younger. Secondly, the respondents worried about eating vegetables, fruits and grains in turn because of pesticide residues, and did not trust the results from food hygiene tests by the Government. Thirdly, three‐fourths of the respondents used the way to wash food stuffs with water several times to clean pesticide residues. Fourth, about four‐fifths of the subjects worried about food borne illness caused by fish to the extreme and about two‐thirds answered that un‐fresh or contaminated food stuffs were the major factor of food borne illness in cooking. Finally, the respondents primarily wanted to get the information about harmfulness of pesticide residues in foods, and methods to choose fresh food regarding food borne illness. Under the situation of the lack of educational programs for food hygiene in Korea, the educational contents for food hygiene to improve public health can be developed on the basis of this study.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were first used to designate micro organisms that had had genes from other species transferred into their genetic material by the then‐new techniques of ‘gene‐splicing.’ Cultivation of GMOs has so far been most widespread in the production of soybeans and maize. The United States holds almost three‐fourths of the total crop area devoted to GMOs. Because many crops have been imported from the US, there is a large possibility for consumers to intake the products of GMOs in Korea. The safety of GMOs is not scientifically settled at this time, however. Additionally, the research regarding the GMOs issue of consumers has rarely been conducted in Korea. This study therefore focused on the consumer attitudes about GMOs and willingness to purchase them. The data were collected from 506 adults living in Seoul, Daegu and Busan, Korea, by means of a self‐administered questionnaire. Frequencies and chi‐square tests were conducted by SPSS. The results of the survey were as follows. First, the consumer concerns about GMOs were high but recognition was low; many respondents answered they did not have exact information about GMOs, although they had heard about them. Second, almost 93% of the respondents desired the labelling of GMOs. Third, the level of acceptance of GMOs was high; two‐thirds of the respondents showed that they were willing to buy GMOs. Finally, many respondents worried about the safety of GMOs in that 73% of the respondents primarily wanted to be informed about safety of GMOs. This study suggests that the consumer education about GMOs should be conducted through mass media and consumer protection organisations.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the awareness and practices for diet according to the lifestyles of college students in Youngnam region. The data were collected by self-administered questionnaires during May 2007. One hundred-ninety samples were analyzed by SPSS Windows. Frequencies, Cronbach's alpha, factor analysis, cluster analysis, one-way analysis of variance, Duncan's multiple range test and chi-square test were conducted. The results were as follows. Lifestyles were categorized into four factors by factor analysis: popularity-seeking type, body-management-seeking type, convenience-seeking type and healthy-seeking type. In addition, the respondents belonged to one of four groups by cluster analysis: body-management-seeking group, popularity-seeking group, convenience-seeking group, and healthy-seeking group. There were significant differences in perception about individual body images, concern of diet, awareness of diet necessity and knowledge and practices for diet among the four groups. That is, the body-management-seeking group showed the highest levels of concern of diet, awareness of diet necessity and the practice of fasting therapy. Additionally, the healthy-seeking group showed the highest level of practice of exercise therapy.
Synthetic polymers are rarely degraded in nature and cause environmental pollution. Biodegradable films have been developed to alleviate the pollution. Many countries have great interests in biodegradable food packaging films. Poly (3‐hydroxy butyric acid) (PHB) is a natural biodegradable plastic with biocompatibility. However, PHB has some problems of application to the food system because it is brittle and stiff. Because PHB has a poor site for chemical modification, the blends of PHB with flexible polymers can overcome these undesirable properties. Therefore, we prepared the blend films of PHB with chitosan, analysed the mechanical properties and barrier properties against water vapour, oxygen and lipid and monitored biodegradability of PHB/chitosan films in this study. The degree of crystallinity of PHB/chitosan films by X‐ray diffraction decreased with increasing chitosan concentration. The granular sizes of the films were reduced with the addition of chitosan to the film in the micro structural observation by a scanning electron microscope. Mechanical properties, including tensile strength and percent elongation of the blend films increased with increasing chitosan ration in the films. It is demonstrated that mechanical properties of the films were improved by the addition of chitosan. The water vapour permeability (WVP) of the PHB film was the highest and WVP was decreased by the addition of chitosan. Oxygen permeability of the films decreased as chitosan amount increased. The films had very good barrier property against lipid. The consumed oxygen of PHB film was greater than that of chitosan film for incubation on the biodegradability determination of the films. Therefore, the blend films could be expected to increase the rate of degradation in natural environments.
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