Ayşe Özfer Özçelik

Attitudes of women towards food safety

Purpose – This paper seeks to determine the attitudes of women, who are mainly in charge of preparing food at home, towards food safety.Design/methodology/approach – The research was carried out among 250 married women who were chosen from those enrolled in five Public Education Centers affiliated to the Ministry of Education. The research data were collected through a questionnaire and face‐to‐face interviews.Findings – The mean food safety attitude score was determined to be 29.97+2.91. The food safety attitudes of women varied according to education and age. Therefore, it is important that food safety education provided is continuous in order for the effects of the education to be lasting.Originality/value – Food safety requires correct handling from production through consumption. Poor food‐handling practices in the home kitchen are thought to cause a significant number of food borne illnesses. The paper highlights the importance of education that affects food safety practices in the home.

Individuals’ Knowledge and Practices of the Cold Chain

This study aims to identify the influence of education on the practices and knowledge of consumers to protect or maintain the cold chain in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Data were gathered by using a questionnaire. Participants were 700 randomly selected volunteering adults. The majority of the participants had a university degree (69.0%) and did not know the definition of cold chain but had some knowledge about it, and differences existed between primary school and university graduates. The scores of consumers’ attitudes to maintain cold chain were determined to increase in parallel with education level. The rate of people knowing refrigerator temperature, the coldest part of refrigerator, and controlling whether shops correctly store the products was highest in university graduates. Adults were observed to believe that shop assistants were responsible for maintaining a cold chain. However, the actual importance of consumers in this process reveals the importance of education for individuals.

Consumer Attitudes toward Food Consumption and Purchase in Turkey

This study was conducted in the Ankara Province of Turkey to determine the attitudes of adult consumers toward food consumption and purchasing activities. The data were collected by conducting face-to-face interviews with 700 adults working in ministries (government office) to fill in a questionnaire prepared especially for this purpose. The responses to the questionnaire were evaluated by assigning points for the “food-consumption-and-purchasing attitudes” of each respondent based on their replies. These food-consumption-and-purchasing attitude points have been then analyzed in terms of the gender, age, and educational level of the adults involved. The results showed that women, the 30–39 age group, and university graduates have a higher score of food-consumption-and-purchasing attitude points than do men, the age group comprising respondents < 30 and ≥ 40 years of age, and those with lower education levels, respectively. A statistically significantly relation was observed between food-consumption-and-purchasing attitude points and age.

Young adults’ milk consumption habits and knowledge about milk

ABSTRACT This study was performed to determine young adults’ milk consumption habits and their knowledge about milk. This is a descriptive study and sample is comprised of 205 young adults. Data were collected using a questionnaire and in face-to-face interviews. To check the questionnaire’s reliability, the internal consistency coefficient was calculated and the Kuder Richardson (KR-20) value was found to be 0.77. The mean milk knowledge score was 17.50±4.21. It was found that males (17.54±4.36) scored higher than females (17.47±4.12). The 22-24 age group (18.14±4.34) scored higher than 19-21 age group (16.90±4.02). These differences in mean milk knowledge scores were not found to be statistically significant (p>.05). This study clarifies all the reasons why milk consumption should be increased. The reasearchers believe that sharing knowledge about milk’s health benefits using media or other training methods is an important way to raise consumers’ consciousness and prevent possible health problems.

Evaluation of Eating Attitudes of Turkish Adolescents Based on Certain Variables

Abstract This study was conducted on 321 adolescents to investigate the relation between the eating attitude of Turkish adolescents and some variables by using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). The cut-off point for the test was 20. Twenty points and more referred to the risk of an eating disorder. According to findings, the mean EAT-26 score of the adolescents was 20.4±0.1. By gender, 45.7 percent of the boys and 48.9 percent of the girls, by age, 52.7 percent of the students at the age of 12-14 and forty-one percent of the students at the age of 15-18 (p<0.05), by BMI, fifty percent of the thinner, forty-four percent of the underweight, 41.3 percent of those with a normal weight, 60.2 percent of overweight and obese had 20 and over in the test. 57.6 percent of the students stated that their parents were obese had 20 and over in the test and so had a risk for eating disorder (p<0.05). The researchers believe that adolescents should be given more knowledge about healthy nutrition and monitoring them by longitudinal research studies will be helpful in preventing eating disorders.

Turkish Adolescents’ Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet

Abstract This study aims to examine nutritional status and KIDMED of adolescents, and to determine their relation with some parameters. The study sample included a total of 497 students selected from high schools. Of the participants, 52.5 percent were females (n=261) and 47.5 percent were males (n=236). To determine the KIDMED index of adolescents, the independent t-test was used for gender. One-way ANOVA was used for the variables of age and Body Mass Index (BMI). The adolescents’ average score for KIDMED was 4.65±2.38. Of them, thirty-one percent had “poor” diet quality (<3), 58.4 percent had “average” diet quality (4-7) and 10.6 percent had “good” diet quality (>8). MedDiet is effective in providing a healthy life. It is important that governmental policies encourage people to follow this diet to prevent future health problems.

Hygiene Knowledge of Food Staff in Catering Industry: A Sample From Turkey

This study, designed as a cross-sectional study, was carried out to determine the hygiene knowledge of the staff (N = 317) employed in kitchen and service departments of catering firms in Ankara. It was found that the mean scores of the staff with regard to personal hygiene, food hygiene, and kitchen and equipment hygiene were 10.7 ± 1.6, 19.8 ± 4.0, and 13.6 ± 2.0, respectively. Male staff achieved higher mean scores in personal hygiene knowledge test compared with female staff (p < .01). The staff receiving a hygiene training were determined to have higher mean scores in terms of hygiene knowledge tests compared with those who have not received, and the production staff had higher knowledge as to hygiene than the other groups (p < .01). The mean scores for hygiene knowledge tests were found to be increasing with age. Hygiene knowledge scores of the staff were quite lower than what must be taken. For that reason, periodical training programs should be organized to increase the awareness of the staff about hygiene.