• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.1155-1169
• /
• 2023

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Unhealthy food choices among young adults are common globally, and the incidence of chronic diseases, such as obesity, is rising. Food literacy (FL) is important for improving and maintaining individual health in a rapidly changing food environment and can form the basis for following a sustainable diet. Therefore, it is essential to improve FL among young adults, particularly college students, who are in the formative years of their lifelong food habits. This study examined the facilitators and barriers of FL and related dietary behavior among college students in South Korea. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This study recruited 25 college students with different residence types using convenience and snowball sampling. In-person, telephone, and video interviews were conducted from March to November 2021. The interview data were analyzed using framework analysis based on the socio-ecological model. RESULTS: At the individual level, prior good experiences with food were the most frequently mentioned facilitator. In contrast, the major barriers were a lack of knowledge, financial hardship, irregular schedules, and academic stress. At the interpersonal level, the influences of family and peers, such as early exposure to healthy eating habits and opportunities to have easy accessibility to farms and farming, are major facilitators, but the lack of a sense of community was the major barrier. At the environmental level, the major barriers were unfavorable food environments at home and in neighborhoods, such as the absence of kitchens in housing and large packaging of produce at markets. CONCLUSIONS: Many factors affected the students' FL and related healthy eating practices. These findings suggest that a campus-based FL program should be developed by reflecting on these facilitators and barriers.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.37 no.4_spc
• /
• pp.786-793
• /
• 2024

Latin America is a culturally, geographically, politically, and economically diverse region. Agriculture in Latin America is marked by a remarkable diversity of production systems, reflecting various agroecological zones, farm sizes, and technological levels. In the last decade, the swine industry increased by 30.6%, emerging as a great contributor to food security and economic development in Latin America. Brazil and Mexico dominate the pig production landscape, together accounting for 70% of sow inventory in the region. The swine industry in Latin America is predominantly comprised of small and medium-sized farms, however, in the past 30 years, the number of pig producers in Brazil dropped by 78%, whereas pork production increased by 326%. Similar to the global pork industry, the growing demand for pork, driven by population growth and changing dietary habits, presents an opportunity for the industry with an expected growth of 16% over the next decade. The export prospects are promising, however subject to potential disruptions from global market conditions and shifts in trade policies. Among the challenges faced by the swine industry, disease outbreaks, particularly African Swine Fever (ASF), present significant threats, necessitating enhanced biosecurity and surveillance systems. In 2023, ASF was reported to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) in Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Venezuela, and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) in Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Ecuador. Additionally, feed costs, supply chain disruptions, and energy expenses have affected mainly the smaller and less efficient producers. The swine industry is also transitioning towards more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices, including efficient feed usage, and precision farming. Ensuring long-term success in the swine industry in Latin America requires a holistic approach that prioritizes sustainability, animal welfare, and consumer preferences, ultimately positioning the industry to thrive in the evolving global market.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.577-586
• /
• 2011

This study was carried out to investigate food service management practices in various operation types of child care center in Gyeonggi area of Korea, and to provide basic information for improving food service management policies at child care centers. Self-administrated questionnaires were collected from 102 child care center directors. The statistical analysis was completed using SPSS ver. 18.0 program. Approximately 97.1% of the directors were women. The number of total children were difference in public, private and home care centers respectively (p<0.001), and time of operation was significantly (p<0.01). Only 8.9% of the centers employed a dietitian, whereas 92.5% of the centers employed cook or assistant cook, thus food service was not managed by professionals in most centers. All of the centers had been self-operated and meals were prepared in a conventional manner. In approximately 89.2% of the centers servings snacks twice a day. Menu planner of the centers which have no dietitian was the child care information center (47.5%) or the director (34.7%). In most centers, the directors was also purchasing manager and 36.0% of the center purchased food every day. These results indicated that food service management guidelines need to be established by the child care center type with the government control and financial support. We recommended that they furnish the efficient food service program for food service management.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.573-584
• /
• 2002

Milk urea nitrogen (MUN) and Milk protein (MP) are being used as indicators of the protein-energy balance and for actual farm feeding practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate the MUN and MP concentrations of individual cows and bulk tank milk to evaluate the dietary protein-energy balance from lactating Holstein cows. Mean MUN and MP concentrations in the milk samples obtained from 132,636 cows of 4,856 herd during Jan. 1999 to Dec. 2001 were 16.2 5.2mg/dl and 3.30 0.35%, respectively. The highest values were found during summer and lowest valued during winter in MUN. But, the average contents of MP were the highest during winter and the lowest during summer. In order to evaluate protein-energy balance for feeding, we set the level of recommended MP range of 2.90${\sim}$3.29% in early lactation considering a negative energy balance. The recommended level of MP in mid-lactation and late lactation were set as 3.10${\sim}$3.49%, and 3.30${\sim}$3.69%, respectively. Recommended MUN range of 12${\sim}$18 mg/dl was determined through the whole lactation period. Individual cows milk were analyzed by the 9 types based on this levels of MP and MUN in this study. Among the total cows investigated, 26.8%, 25.8%, and 22.2% have shown the recommended criteria of MP and MUN values, respectively. Also, of total herds surveyed, 11.6% had MUN values lower than 12.0 mg/dl and 32.9% had values higher than 18.0 mg/dl and 44.5% of total herd have not met with the recommended criteria of MP values in bulk tank milk. In case of MP, out of the total herd surveyed, 26.0% had MP values lower than 3.10% and 24.0% had values higher than 3.30% and 50.0% had MP values outside the recommended interval (3.1${\sim}$3.3%). This study has indicates that many dairy farms are under improper feeding management practice of the dietary protein-energy balance.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.259-265
• /
• 2018

Since Korean housewives are responsible for the dietary practices of family at home, it is important to know what information will make them to buy safe food. This study was designed to determine the role of perceived threats, behavioral assessments, and self-efficacy factors known to promote healthy behavior in health belief models (HBM) based on food safety awareness and behavior of housewives. This study involved 191 housewives, based on key variables such as perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy, and purchase behavior. The results showed that higher levels of education and urbanization increased the threat perception and the likelihood of buying safe food. The correlation analysis showed that increased awareness and knowledge of safe foods and interest in health contributed to higher relative benefit or self-efficiency of food, and thus, ensured food safety. The conceptual model of food safety behavior based on the HBM was verified via structural equation analysis. The findings suggest that a suitable model showcasing knowledge levels and relative benefits resulted in a greater impact on purchasing behavior than perceived threats. This study suggests that it is more effective for housewives to provide more preventive information than risk information to purchase safe food.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.886-894
• /
• 2013

The National Standard Food Composition Table published by the Rural Development Administration (RDA) provides the foundations in research, nutrition monitoring, policy and dietary practices in Korea. This databases consists of several sets of data including food descriptions, nutrients, portion weights, and source of data. The National Standard Food Composition Table have been published since 1970 and, recently, new version (8th edition) of Food Composition Table which has quantitative and qualitative nutrient data is released in 2011. In addition, the User-friendly Food Composition Table is divided into adult, children, and elderly categories depending on the subjects because we need different nutrients according to various ages. The Tables of Food Functional Composition is firstly edited in 2009. RDA published the minerals and fatty acids composition table, tables of amino acid, fat-soluble vitamin composition table, and the cholesterol table. The resulting database will be widely used. The users of the databases are from diverse fields, includeing federal agencies, the food industry, health professionals, restaurants, software application developers, academia and research organizations, international organizations, and foreign governments ect. Therefore, consistent improvements of the database is important, so that people can better address such health challenges by providing reliable and accurate data.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.183-188
• /
• 2009

There has been a need to update the current Codex nutrient reference values (NRVs) which had been established following the Helsinki Consultation in 1988. The main purposes of NRVs are to help consumers compare the nutrient content of different food products and estimate the usefulness of a food product in terms of its percentage contribution to the overall healthful diets. The establishment of Codex NRVs for labelling purposes is intended to facilitate the goals of protecting consumers' health and ensuring fair practices in food trade. When revising the Codex NRVs several issues are needed to discussed, which are: 1) Consideration of population groups whether to have one set of NRVs for general population or to have several sets of NRVs for each population groups, 2) Determination of scope of nutrients such as what nutrients to include and what reference values to choose and 3) Development of principles for establishing NRVs such as the selection of suitable reference values among many including recommended intake/recommended dietary allowances, estimated average requirement and upper levels to extract NRVs. This paper will discuss the above issues and the inputs and efforts that the Korean Nutrition Society had put into to carry out the project, "International Collaboration on the Revision and Addition of the Codex Nutrient Reference Values for Food Labelling Purposes," and to ascertain relevant scientific principles and evidences that are utilized for establishment and revision of the Codex NRVs.

• Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.62-70
• /
• 2000

Nutrition education should be an important component of ongoing health promotion for older adults and their caregivers. This is because prevention through sound nutrition and food hygiene practices and regular excercise is the most cost-effective way to reduce risks for and deal with their major health problems. nutritions education services should effectively promote optimum intake and successful self-care. Unfortunately, however relative to other vulnerable groups, nutrition education for older adults has not been systematically developed or evaluated. Usually oder adults care a lot about their health, so this should be a relatively easy group to teach - but their increasing numbers, longevity and great diversity with respect to health, physical, and economic status and educational level present challenges. Some older adults may not perceive they would benefit from nutrition education, so interesting and motivating them is a challenge. The food and nutrition knowledge of older people has been acquired through a lifetime of experience. For most older adults in the Asian region, their sources are restricted by their restricted education, so that their major sources of information have been informal sources, such as television, radio, friends, family, and perhaps newspapers and magazines if they are literature. Nonetheless, dietary advice for older people should build on their existing knowledge and ingrained values. It should provide information useful in daily food selection, and focus on food, not nutrients - the same foods and groups considered appropriate for younger people, with consistent messages as given throughout the population. Attention must also be paid to discovering learning styles in older people. When we teach in schools, the young students are a captive audience resigned to their learning role. Learning by an older adult, however, reflects an effort to meet his or her perceived needs. Therefore, nutrition education should be a positive experience in a non-threatening environment, relaxed and non-competitive, and perhaps even social environment. The messages also need to be practical and achievable. A needs assessment is essential, because our ability to provide the most effective nutrition education will depend on our success in matching the needs, both perceived and unperceived. of this vulnerable group. Therefore, go to the potential older learners to assess their interest and preferences. Nutrition education activities for older adults are widespread, but few have been evaluated. Evaluation is therefore also recommended, particularly when new methods are used. Tips from other countries for giving successful nutrition education will be given, including some examples of applications as attempted in Hong Kong. Research needs will also be described. In conclusion, successful nutrition education for older adults depends on positive needs-based messages. This is may be hard to do, as few good examples are available to illustrate these principles.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
• /
• v.24 no.4
• /
• pp.277-289
• /
• 2019

Objectives: This study examined the practices of a community meal program for older adults in rural areas during the agricultural off-season. Methods: A survey was conducted from December 12 to December 22, 2016. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 150 cooking volunteers, who had participated in the community meal program in 50 villages. A total of 114 responses were returned from 44 villages and used for data analysis. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with the volunteers of eight villages. Results: Most of the cooking volunteers were 50 years old or older and they participated in serving older adults meals for good will. The cooking volunteers perceived that the older adults in their community did not eat various foods, had difficulties in grocery shopping, and frequently consumed salty foods. During the agricultural off-season, 40.9% of villages served the older adults meals 6-7 days a week and 95.5% provided meals for lunch. An average of 21 to 40 older adults were served meals in each village. The cooking volunteers reported that the food preparation and meal service times were sufficient, recipes provided were useful, and menus met the preference of the older adults. At the end of the program, they felt proud of serving meals for older adults in the community. An increased awareness of healthy eating, interest in health, and consumption of nutritious meals, a decrease in loneliness among older adults, and the promotion of fellowship in the community were rated highly. The cooking volunteers expected additional support for cooking personnel and insisted that the program should be provided for the entire agricultural off-seasons. Conclusions: The community meal program during the agricultural off-season for the elderly in rural areas was effective in improving the dietary life of older adults, relieving their feelings of isolation, and promoting fellowship of the community. The volunteers felt workload due to a shortage of volunteers but answered that they were rewarded by helping older adults in their community.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.352-357
• /
• 2019

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Youth is the crucial stage between childhood and adulthood during which an individual acquires new behavior and practices including dietary habits, that may be influenced by his peers, social circle, nutrition knowledge level and other factors. The increase in awareness of young adults is of special importance from the perspective of health and prevention of obesity related chronic diseases. To measure the nutrition literacy level of university students using the Turkish version of Adolescent Nutrition Literacy Scale (ANLS). We evaluated their food habits using the Adolescent Food Habit Checklist (AFHC) tool and analysed it, if the eating habits were affected by nutrition literacy level. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on randomly selected 276 students studying in the Faculty of Health Sciences of Istanbul Aydin University, Turkey. Data was collected by means of ANLS and AFHC tools by face to face interview method. SPSS statistical sofware (IBM SPSS Statistics 19) was used to analyse the obtained data. RESULTS: Participants comprised of 47.1% males and 52.9% females with mean age of $20.0{\pm}1.60years$. Mean body mass index (BMI) was determined as $22.4{\pm}3.76$ ($23.6{\pm}3.63$ males $21.3{\pm}3.57$ females). Functional, interactive and critical nutritional literacy scores for male participants were $22.49{\pm}5.71$, $17.45{\pm}4.84$, and $28.28{\pm}7.13$ respectively (total $64.98{\pm}10.15$). For females the values were $24.66{\pm}5.13$, $20.17{\pm}4.28$, and $32.20{\pm}5.65$ (total $69.72{\pm}8.59$) respectively. For all the three sub-categories of nutrition literacy, the scores acquired by females were significantly higher than males (P < 0.001). In the AFHC tool, the mean score acquired by males were $9.26{\pm}4.18$ whereas for females it was $10.37{\pm}3.40$ significantly higher as compared to males (P = 0.007). CONCLUSION: The food habits of female participants were better than males; in accordance with their nutrition literacy status. It may be concluded that food habits are influenced by nutrition literacy and therefore stress much be given to increase the nutrition awareness among children youth as well as adults.