• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.1167-1184
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• 2011

The goal of educating consumers regarding food safety is to increase consumer competency in food safety. In order to recognize consumer problems and to develop consumer competency in rapidly changing consumer environment, it is necessary to cultivate consumer knowledge, attitude, and ability on food safety required in performing the consumer role effectively. Within this context, it is necessary to develop consumer-oriented education programs which aim to change consumer values and behaviors with regard to food safety. Based on information obtained from focus group interviews, the need for educational programs for food safety, which are related to the whole process of food consumption, have been raised. The process of food consumption is divided into buying, cooking/eating, and after eating, based on the process of consumer decision making and consumer behavior. Scenarios for consumer education on food safety were developed depending on the process of food consumption. This study developed a pilot consumer education program which included the whole process of food consumption. The program of this study was designed to induce consumers to change their behavior through establishing values on food safety and may contribute to lay the foundation for the realization of food safety culture. The results will be utilized to provide future directions for consumer education programs and efficient educational materials on food safety. Finally, it is hoped that empirical evaluation and analysis on the effects of consumer education programs will be investigated in future studies.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.517-526
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The increased consumers' interests in health and food safety have increased the demand for organic foods. Many studies have been performed on consumers' purchase intentions for organic foods and their influencing factors, and various studies have shown that the prices of organic foods and the consumers' willingness to pay are important influencing factors. This study examined the payment value of organic foods and agrifood consumer competency index according to the food-related lifestyles in South Korean consumers. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis was performed using the 2019 Consumer Behavior Survey for Food. A total of 6,176 participants aged 19 to 74 years (male: 2,783, female: 3,393) were included in the analysis. RESULTS: Three factors were extracted by factor analysis (rational consumption-seeking type, convenience-seeking type, and health, and safety-seeking type) to explain the consumers' food-related lifestyles. The results of cluster analysis suggested that consumers were classified into 3 food-related lifestyles as the 'exploratory consumers' (n = 2,485), 'safety-seeking consumers' (n = 1,544), and 'passive consumers' (n = 2,147). Exploratory consumers showed a significantly higher willingness to pay for imported organic foods (P < 0.05). Safety-seeking consumers had a significantly higher willingness to pay for domestic organic foods (P < 0.05). For the agrifood consumer competency index, exploratory consumers had the highest score, followed in order by safety-seeking consumers and passive consumers. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide basic data in understanding consumption tendency for organic foods and agrifoods based on food-related lifestyles of South Korean consumers.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.182-194
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• 2022

After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an explosive increase in restaurant meal delivery or takeout. The purpose of this study was to analyze the consumer perception of food safety and its influence on the purchase of delivery or takeout food from restaurants. This study, the 2020 Consumer Behavior Survey for Food (CBSF), was conducted from June 10 to August 21 2020. A total of 6,355 responses were used for the analysis. The results were as follows: First, the differences in consumer perception about food safety were analyzed according to whether they used delivery or takeout. Concern about food safety, satisfaction with dietary habits, and the ability to maintain safe dietary habits were higher in the non-user group. Except for food at home, the perception about food safety at other locations was higher in the user group. Food hazards such as antibiotics were perceived to be safer in the user group. Second, the perception of food safety affecting use of delivery or takeout was analyzed. It was found that the usage of delivery or takeout increased when the perception of the safety of home meal replacement (HMR), delivery or takeout food, and the ability to be informed about the harmful factors of agricultural products increased. The findings of this study may offer the basis for the food and food service industry to consider safety issues seriously and develop strategies to lead to feasible practices. Further, this study also supports the direction of the government toward strengthening the safety of new segments which have shown explosive growth in the COVID-19 era.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.889-903
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• 2018

The purposes of this study were to classify consumer types and to analyze purchase behavior depending on food safety attitudes related to the Fukushima nuclear accident. Based on the consumer survey data, factor analysis and cluster analysis were done to classify consumer types. Applying factor analysis, six factors with a total variance of 73.4% were extracted from 22 basic variables. The 6 factors were termed 'anxiety from ingesting agricultural and fishery products after the nuclear accident', 'importance of food safety when purchasing food', 'reduced rate of purchases of agricultural and fishery products after the accident', 'importance of food prices', 'socio-demographic characteristics' and 'family composition'. Using cluster analysis, consumers were classified into 5 types using the factor scores of 6 factors. The main results are as follows. For every consumer type, the anxiety about imported agricultural and fishery products was higher than that for domestic products after the nuclear accident. The food safety attitudes of consumers were mainly formed by the socio-demographic characteristics. Consumer types with high-education and high-income responded flexibly to the food safety concerning the accident; especially, the consumer type with a high-income and kids under 19 responded very reasonably to the accident. However, consumer types with a low-income and aged over 50 or less than 30 years were the least responsive to the accident, mainly due to financial restrictions. Thus, we suggest some food safety strategies and policy implications based on consumer type for food safety after the accident.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.589-600
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• 2013

The Purpose of this paper is to analysis on consumer's purchasing behavior and intention of local food. To analysis consumer's purchasing behavior, a series of homemaker surveys were conducted. The sample size of the survey is 416 respectively. As a survey result, consumer's purchasing behavior shows that purchasing ratio of local food and buying place is various type. By decision tree model analysis showed that consumer's purchasing intention is enough to establishing local food system in region. Therefore, strategies for regional consumption are needed expression of the place city and county of origin, diversification of purchasing item and buying area, and sustainable improvement for safety and trust on local food.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.278-288
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• 2020

This study examined the effects of response-facilitating factors(Food-related Knowledge, Response-Efficacy, and Self-Efficacy) and response-inhibiting factors(Severity, Vulnerability, and Consumer Stress) on the consumer' behavior intention based on protection motivation theory, which explains the behavioral change to protect oneself. This study was conducted to reduce the customers' concerns regarding food safety accidents and introduce ways to make them more interested in food safety. A sample of 225 adults over 19 years of age was collected in February 2018 through a self-administered questionnaire. The results of the cognitive mediation process of protective motivation theory showed that the consumers' knowledge and self-efficacy which are response-facilitating factors, positively influence the behavioral intention. Severity and consumer stress were response-inhibiting factors. On the other hand, response-efficacy, which is a response-facilitating factor, and vulnerability, which is a response-inhibiting factor, did not influence the behavioral intention. Therefore, severity and consumer stress are response-inhibiting factors. The results were analyzed as a result of a behavioral change to protect oneself from food safety accidents. The applicability of the theory of protection motivation on the topic of food safety was also confirmed.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.93-103
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate customer perception of food safety and food safety orientation behavior. A survey was conducted from 458 adults aged 20 and over. The results of this study showed as follows. Food safety was the most important consideration when purchasing food, followed by freshness, taste, nutrition, price, and quantity. 87.1% of respondents had more than usual concern about food safety, and women were more aware of food safety than men. The food safety information was usually acquired from the mass media (TV, radio, Internet). As for the reasons for food safety accidents, they pointed out in the order of lack of awareness of food safety, deficient sense of responsibility of the people who produce, lack of distribute and sell food products, and lack of legal system. In conclusion, it is expected that accurate information about food safety is efficiently communicated, and the government's continuous effort is needed. In addition, effective ways to inform customers of food safety should be identified. Long-term views should be considered when develope food safety related policies and food safety education.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.871-881
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• 2005

This study examined the children's knowledge and behaviors towards food safety and hygiene. The data were collected from 521 elementary school students in Youngnam region by the self-administered questionnaires. Frequencies and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted by SPSS WINDOWS. The results of the survey were as follows: first, the knowledge level of child towards food safety and hygiene was not that high. Additionally, behavior level was various according to the category of food safety and hygiene. Second, the knowledge and behavior levels for food safety and hygiene were high proportionated to the interest levels for them. Third, there were significant relationships between the knowledge and the behaviors for food safety and hygiene. These results suggest that the education for food safety and hygiene should be performed for the elementary school students to improve the levels of knowledge and behaviors of them.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.466-472
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• 2010

This study divided consumer food-related lifestyles into five types: health-oriented, convenience-oriented, safety-oriented, economics-oriented, and taste-oriented. According to this grouping, we separated the lifestyles into low-interest, safety and economics-oriented, taste-oriented, and high-interest. The results showed that the safety and economics-oriented group was the largest, whereas the taste-oriented group was the smallest. The results also showed that Korean food consumer behavior and satisfaction differed significantly among the groups, and that the high-interest food-related life group exhibited the highest satisfaction. This study is significant because it segmented the local Korean food market, applied food-related lifestyles, and examined submarket characteristics.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.15-31
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• 2013

Consumers are quite worried about food safety because food is one of the most important necessities in everyday life. Many studies have been conducted regarding the food safety issues, however, most researches have focused only on a limited range of risk factors and used only quantitative survey methods. The purpose of this study was to investigate consumers' perceptions of the risky components of food safety and how the perceptions have been formed. For this study in-depth interviews were conducted. For the interviewees, nine housewives, who are in their 30s to 50s, were selected taking into consideration their age, education level, number of children, and employment status. Results showed that the risk factors many consumers worried about were agricultural pesticides, MSG, food additives, GMO, Mad Cow Disease, preservatives, and growth hormones, etc. Consumers were worried about the risk of the retail process the most because they thought it was not informed and controlled well. Consumers tend to worry much more when the risks are involuntary, uncontrollable, unreliable, and have a gradual negative effect. Some of the food safety-oriented behaviors of consumers were also investigated.