Knowledge of food literacy and food safety among turkish adults

Abstract

Objective: Having information about food safety and food literacy enables us to access healthy food. Nutrition and food habits are some of the most basic factors that affect human health. It will be a big step forwards in terms of public health to measure and influence consumers’ knowledge about accessing safe food and food literacy. The aim of the present study was to measure consumers’ knowledge about food safety and food literacy and to determine the factors that affect them. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on adults (over the age of 18 years old) in Kayseri City, Turkey between March and April 2016. A sample size of 1600 was calculated. A literature-based questionnaire form method was used to collect data. A chi-square test was used to evaluate and analyze categorical data. Results: A total of 1592 people participated in the study. The mean age was 36.83 ± 13.67 years. Knowledge of food safety and food literacy was 47.7% and 36.2%, respectively. The more people are educated, the higher the ratio of knowledge on food literacy and food safety is. The highest ratios were 54.0% and 47.7%, respectively, at college educational level. It was determined that scientists, medical personnel, and scientific magazines were the most reliable sources of information about food safety with 78.1%, 69.7%, and 65.9%, respectively. Conclusion: The present study found that education is an important factor in the access and consumption of healthy food. Since they are the most reliable sources of information, scientists and medical personnel are responsible for raising awareness on how to access healthy food.