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Pakistan Journal of Nutrition

Year: 2011 | Volume: 10 | Issue: 3 | Page No.: 241-248
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Authors

Didem Onay

Seher Ersoy-Quadir

Mehmet Akman

Keywords

Research Article

An Analysis of Consumers’ Food Purchasing Attitudes and Habits in Relation to Food Safety

Didem Onay, Seher Ersoy-Quadir and Mehmet Akman
Through the recent developments in food industry, natural and synthetic additive substances are being used in food production to increase the quality and taste of food, to prolong their shelf life and to decrease costs. Despite their many benefits, these applications can sometimes cause allergy, chronic or acute food poisonings, deaths and labor force loss. Therefore, it is crucial that consumers perceive risks stemming from food and learn how to manage them when purchasing and thereby decide whether the food is safe or not. The aim of this study is to examine consumers’ attitudes pertaining to food safety when buying food and their habits of taking precautions against this matter. The sample of the study was composed of 546 civil servants and teachers residing in the city center of Konya. It was found out that the subjects in the sample group had correct habits in terms of paying attention to food safety but their attitudes in this issue were inadequate. Teachers were found to be more sensitive to the risks stemming from the food additives than civil servants (p<0.01). As for the attitudes to precautions taken in food purchase, teachers were found to be less careless (p<0.05). Contrary to our expectations, it was found out that those with lower educational levels were found to display more conscious consumer attitudes (p<0.05). In terms of habits, women were seen to observe the precautions to be taken when purchasing food more carefully compared to men (p<0.001). Younger consumers were found to pay more attention to the precautions mentioned than older ones (p<0.05).
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