• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2008

This study was performed to improve of Health Functional Food(HFF) through investigating the label system. The logo on HFF to increase the reliance, understanding and quality warranty for consumers was developed through competition. In order to investigate the consumer's awareness about HFF label system a nationwide survey was conducted in metropolitan areas (6 cities) and middle-sizes cities (6 cities). The subjects was 2000(male 519, female 1481) adults aged 20 over, and information was collected by in-person interviews. The major results were as follows. 63.0% of consumer responded they need certification mark for HFF and trust function information of text/graphic format than text format. 85.3% of consumers chose the long claim including the mechanism because 38% reported that they could confide the information, 36% reported it is easy to understand and 26% reported that they thought it is more effective than short claim. As 58.8% of the total consumers answered that the manufacturers marked the nutrition function claim without the permit of the KFDA, a reliable certification mark developed by this research is expected to contribute in improving the label system of HFF, rising reliability and perception of consumer.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2012

This study is a survey of regulatees' perception on main contents and enforcement effect of the Act, the retailers at food stores within Green Food Zone, for the effective enforcement of "The Special Act on the Safety Management of Children's Dietary Life" legislated in 2008. Percentage, frequency analysis, and T-test are derived from the survey carried out to the 175 retailers at food stores within Green Food Zone, across the country except Jejudo, for the two months March and April of 2011. The survey results are as follows. Over 80% of the respondents are aware of comprehensive policy for child food safety and the enforcement of 'the Special Act' and considering the rate of satisfaction on food safety information provided by government, over 90% of the respondents, virtually most of them, are satisfied. The rate of awareness of Green Food Zone is about 80% and that of outstanding business for children is about 50%, showing little perception of it. The comparison of the survey result of 2011 with that of 2010, which have the same questions to the retailers within Green Food Zone, still indicates a need for enhancement of understanding on absolute standard, though it showed fairly better improvement in general. Several proposals are given in this study based on the survey results, which will contribute to the children food safety and health improvement in the end.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.549-561
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• 2018

Ginseng has been traditionally used for several millennia in Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Japan, not only as a nourishing and tonifying agent but also as a therapeutic agent for a variety of diseases. In recent years, the various effects of red ginseng including immunity improvement, fatigue relief, memory improvement, blood circulation improvement, antioxidation, mitigation of menopausal women's symptoms, and anticancer an effect have been reported in clinical as well as basic research. Around the world, there is a trend of the rising consumption of health functional foods on the level of disease prevention along with increased interest in maintaining health because of population aging and the awareness of lifestyle diseases and chronic diseases. Red ginseng occupies an important position as a health functional food. But till now, international ginseng monographs including those of the World Health Organization have been based on data on white ginseng and have mentioned red ginseng only partly. Therefore, the red ginseng monograph is needed for component of red ginseng, functionality certified as a health functional food in the Korea Food and Drug Administration, major efficacy, action mechanism, and safety. The present red ginseng monograph will contribute to providing accurate information on red ginseng to agencies, businesses, and consumers both in South Korea and abroad.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.182-190
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• 2008

A survey on consumer's awareness and perception toward genetically-modified(GM) foods was conducted on 2110 random samples of Korean consumers. More than 65% of the respondents were exposed to some information related to GM foods. The respondents answered that the greatest benefit of the development of GM foods is remedy of potential food shortages in the future. More than 90% of Korean consumers wanted GM foods to be labeled as such. More than 50% of the respondents would not buy until they know more about GM foods. Only 35.8% of Korean consumers were found to know that food items originating from plants contained genes. More consumers responded that they would not buy herbicide-resistant GM soybean but buy vitamin-enriched GM soybean. Many Korean consumers' decision of acceptance or rejection of GM foods depend not on the basis of biotechnology, but on the basis of the degree of benefit to the consumers. Only 6.4% of Korean consumers responded that GM foods were the greatest threat to the safety of Korean foods. The perception of Korean consumers on GM foods has not changed significantly during the past 5 years.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.1107-1118
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the changes in perception concerning nutrition labeling and students' availability of processed foods and is to investigate parents' awareness of nutrition labeling through the 'Education program on safety management of children's dietary life' conducting directly to the fifth grade elementary school students (4,105 persons) by the nutrition teacher in each school. The part that checked when purchasing processed food before and after the students' education, the name of manufacturer (p<0.05), raw material and content (p<0.001), food additives (p<0.001), nutritive components (p<0.05) etc. were significantly improved. An idea about nutrition labeling has increased after the education, the question items in 'it is reliable' (p<0.001), 'satisfied' (p<0.01) were significantly increased particularly. In spite of one time education, it showed positive changes such as it can be possible to get desired nutrition information. Thus, although it was one time training conducted in the situation that can not be carried out formal education due to school environment, a variety of practical education of children's dietary life is required targeting comprehensive senior students, the education is considered to be conducted for children as well as parents.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2015

This study was performed to investigate the influence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity on corporate image and repurchase intention (pre and post measure) after the news of food incident. A questionnaire survey was carried out for 235 college students in Seoul, Korea. The participants were given an instruction with CSR activity of company in food industry and completed the survey. We collected the survey and did the statistical analysis by SPSS. The result of this study was as follows: Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found between the two groups, one was aware of corporation's CSR activity and the other was not. The ranges of score of each question on corporate images after and before providing CSR information were 3.21-3.94 and 3.89-4.62, respectively. Also, the ranges of score of each question on repurchase intention after and before providing CSR information were 3.11-4.64 and 3.60-4.67, respectively. Thus, the result confirms that the previous studies' conclusion which explains CSR can shield consumers' negative attitude toward the company. The finding of this study emphasizes the importance of CSR activity to the companies in food industry and the need for making public awareness of CSR activity.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.117-121
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• 2007

The number of internet users and the scale of electronic on-line trading are on the increase due to the development of information technology and the internet. The aim of this study was to monitor the accuracy of country-of-origin labels and the indicated contents of meat available by electronic on-line trading by using a structural interview sheet for 100 on-line meat product markets. The result of this investigation showed a 100% level of accuracy for business name and telephone number whereas the company address, meat manufacturer and supplier, and business registration were less reliable. We also investigated the accuracy of site policy, e-mail address, and fax number. The results showed that the accuracy of fax numbers was the lowest. The product name and the kind of meat actually in the product showed a 100% level of conformity, while the price (96.3%), place of origin (93.6%), capacity (90.4%), meat parts (80.9%) and contents of the product (73.4%) showed a relatively low level of conformity. Serious safety issues were exposed by the disturbingly low 20.2% accuracy of indicated expiration dates and 5.3% accuracy of indicated manufacturing dates. To ensure food safety, it is essential to improve consumer understanding and trust regarding food safety through continuous public relations. More education and information are needed to raise consumer awareness of the facts versus myths regarding food safety.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.552-560
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• 2020

Listeria monocytogenes is a highly pathogenic gram-positive bacterium that is easily isolated from cheese, meat, processed meat products, and smoked salmon. A zero-tolerance (n=5, c=0, m=0/25 g) criteria has been applied for L. monocytogenes in cheese meaning that L. monocytogenes must not be detected in any 25 g of samples. However, there was a lack of scientific information behind this criteria. Therefore, in this study, we conducted a risk assessment based on literature reviews to provide scientific information supporting the baseline and to raise public awareness of L. monocytogenes foodborne illness. Quantitative risk assessment of L. monocytogenes for cheese was conducted using the following steps: exposure assessment, hazard characterization, and risk characterization. As a result, the initial contamination level of L. monocytogenes was -4.0 Log CFU/g in cheese. The consumption frequency of cheese was 11.8%, and the appropriate probability distribution for amount of cheese consumed was a Lognormal distribution with an average of 32.5 g. In conclusion, the mean of probabilities of foodborne illness caused by the consumption of cheese was 5.09×10-7 in the healthy population and 4.32×10-6 in the susceptible population. Consumption frequency has the biggest effect on the probability of foodborne illness, but storage and transportation times have also been found to affect the probability of foodborne illness; thus, management of the distribution environment should be considered important. Through this risk assessment, scientific data to support the criteria for L. monocytogenes in cheese could be obtained. In addition, we recommend that further risk assessment studies of L. monocytogenes in various foods be conducted in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.10
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• pp.1594-1606
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to examine safety accidents related to school foodservice, working and operating environments of school foodservice, status and awareness of safety education, educational needs, and information on qualitative improvement of school foodservice. The subjects in this study were 234 cooks in charge of cooking at elementary and secondary schools in Chungbuk. A survey was conducted from July 30 to August 8, 2012, and among 202 questionnaires gathered, 194 completed questionnaires were analyzed. Statistical analyses were performed on data utilizing the SPSS version 19.0. The main results of this study were as follows: 44.3% of workers experienced safety accidents. The most frequent safety accident was 'once' (60.5%), and most safety accidents took place between June and August (31.4%). The time at which most safety accidents happened was between 8 and 11 am. Most safety accidents happened during cooking (52.3%) and while using a soup pot or frying pot (52.4%). The most common accidents were 'burns', 'wrist and arm pain', and 'slips and falls'. Respondents who experienced safety accidents replied that 57.6% of employees dealt with injuries at their own expense, and only 35.3% utilized industrial accident insurance. In terms of the operating environment, the score for 'offering information and application' was highest (3.76 points), whereas that for 'security of budget' was lowest (1.77 points). As for accident education, employees received safety education approximately 3.45 times and 5.10 hours per year. Improving the working environment of school foodservice cooks requires administrative and financial support. Furthermore, educational materials and guidelines based on the working environment and safety accident status of school foodservice cooks are required in order to minimize potential risk factors and control safety accidents in school foodservice.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.1132-1137
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to assess the need for nutritional education in male workers living in Busan, Korea. This study surveyed 310 industrial workers at five companies in Busan using a questionnaire. According to the results, need for nutritional education scored 3.60/5.00 points. The usage rate of mass media as a means of acquiring nutritional information was significantly higher (P<0.001) in subjects in their 50s compared to other age groups. Regarding scores on need for nutritional education according to theme, 'balanced eating habits' showed the highest score, followed by 'food safety', 'diet therapy related to a disease', and 'food hygiene and food poisoning prevention'. In terms of frequency of nutritional education, 29.0% of subjects considered 'biannually' to be desirable, whereas 25.8% and 21.0% considered 'annually' and 'quarterly' to be desirable, respectively. The results of this study suggest that nutritional education for industrial workers should be implemented in various ways in accordance with their characteristics. Furthermore, considering workers' low awareness levels of the need for nutritional education, employees are required to take the education in order to encouraged to improve their nutritional status and commit to a desirable diet.