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Study of University Students’ Perception of Food Safety and Food Purchasing Behavior

This study examined the perception of food safety and the food purchasing behavior of university students from Jeonnam area. For the survey, 295 students (126 male students and 169 female students), participated in and answered a questionnaire. The food purchasing decision was made dominantly by ‘taste’ and ‘food safety (19.3%). On the other hand, 78.6% of respondents answered that food safety is important. Food safety information was obtained through the media (45.1%) and the Internet (44.7%). The major causes of food safety incidents were a ‘lack of awareness about food safety’ (33.7%) and ‘lack of responsibility’ (29.3%). Confidence in national food safety policy had a low score (2.86). The items of ‘I can trust the national food safety management’ and ‘having established scientific and reasonable food safety standards’ scored 3.09 and 3.08, respectively, whereas ‘food safety system is well established’ was 2.75 , which was relatively low. The reliability of food companies was 3.06, which is a normal level. The highest score was 3.97 ‘check expiration date’ and 3.82 ‘check food package’ in the students’ food safety attitude when purchasing food. The overall results can be applied to establish reliable food safety education for consumers as well as robust food safety policies for food industry. In addition, increasing responsibility on food safety for the food industry should be encouraged and monitored by government.