Impact of COVID-19 on Food Consumption Pattern and Eating Behavior : Focusing on Adults in the Seoul and Gyeonggi Areas

Abstract

The global spread of the novel coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has resulted in the implementation of social distancing in every country, including South Korea. Compliance with social distancing has increased the amount of time spent at home for the major population, and it is believed that such a phenomenon would affect food related lifestyles. This study examines the impact of COVID-19 on food consumption pattern as well as eating behavior among Korean adults residing in Seoul and the Gyeonggi areas. Totally, 144 valid data were analyzed by conducting a survey using the self-administered method, from June 8 to June 30, 2020. The overall analysis revealed that since origination of the pandemic outbreak, food purchases have significantly increased from 35.4% to 45.3% for online purchases (p<0.001). Consumers felt that purchasing food was ‘too time-consuming and stressful’, and such negative sentiments were determined to be significantly higher than the pre-COVID-19 days (p<0.001). In addition, due to the decline of consumers dining at sit-down restaurants an increased population has been ordering in to replace eating out. A detailed evaluation of HMR products among the food purchase items of consumers, revealed that the purchase frequency of soup, broth, stew, instant noodles, noodles, and frozen food items of the RTH products was significantly increased, as compared to purchases in the pre-COVID-19 (p<0.05). This study increases the understanding regarding food consumption pattern and eating behavior of consumers in preparation for the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, and suggests an ideal future direction for sustainable management of the food and restaurant industry in the post COVID-19 era.