Food Control 20 (2009) 538542

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Food Control
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont

The knowledge and practice of food safety by young and adult consumers
Nevin sanlier *
Faculty of Commerce and Tourism Education, Gazi University, Glbas, Ankara, Turkey

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 21 February 2008
Received in revised form 1 August 2008
Accepted 8 August 2008

Keywords:
Food safety
Knowledge
Practices
Young and adults consumer

a b s t r a c t
Each year, millions of people worldwide suffer from food-borne diseases and illnesses. Therefore, foodrelated infection is an important health problem in many countries. The study was conducted in Ankara
Province of Turkey to determine food safety and food preparation practices of young and adult consumers. The sampling group was composed of randomly-selected 646 young and 815 adult individuals and
questionnaires were applied with face-to-face interviews made between April and December, 2006. It
was discovered that food safety knowledge of young consumers is at an insufcient level and their practices are inappropriate. It was also revealed that there is a signicantly meaningful difference between
the food safety knowledge and food preparation practice scores of young and adult consumers in favor
of adult consumers (P < 0.001).
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Each year, millions of people worldwide suffer from food-borne
diseases and illnesses resulting from the consumption of contaminated food, which has become one of the most widespread public
health problems in the contemporary world (Notermans, Gallhof,
Zweitering, & Mead, 1995; WHO, 2000).
In less developed countries, many people are poisoned because
of the consumption of foods produced under unhygienic conditions; lack of hygiene education; drought; contaminated waters;
inappropriate food storage conditions; lack of cleaning; and pesticide residue. However, food poisoning is not a phenomenon specic only for less developed countries. The presentation of food
not stored under hygienic conditions, the demand for cheap food
and failure to provide the required care while preparing food results in food poisoning in developed countries as well (Eves & Kipps, 1995; Medeiros et al., 2004; Soner & zgen, 2002).
It is estimated that 76 million food-borne diseases are seen
annually in the USA. Of these episodes, 325,000 are admitted to
hospital while 5000 are fatal (Mead et al.,1999). A total of 84,340
and 77,515 cases of food-borne disease were notied in 1999
and 2000, respectively in Turkey (Soner & zgen, 2002; The Ministry of Health of Turkey, 2006). In both years, Salmonellosis was the
most frequently notied disease, present in 34% of all cases, followed by amoebiasis, comprising 27% and 32% of reported cases
in 1999 and 2000, respectively (WHO, 2004). According to The
Ministry of Health of Turkey (2006), 23,901 Salmonella typhii infection, 429 Salmonella paratyphii infection, 21,068 dysenteria infec* Tel.: +90 312 485 14 60x354; mobile: +90 0532 585 59 44; fax: +90 312 484 41
24.
E-mail addresses: ntekgul@gazi.edu.tr, nevintekgul@gmail.com
0956-7135/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodcont.2008.08.006

tion and 8824 Hepatitis A occurred in Turkey in 2004. Because of

the reporting of food-borne illnesses to a specied agency is not
obligatory in Turkey, data on food-borne infections and intoxications do not reect exact gures (WHO, 2004). The association of
food poisoning outbreaks and the consumption of contaminated
food are signicant in many countries (Sockett, 1995). The most
common factors contributing to food-borne disease outbreaks include safe keeping of food (time/temperature), contaminated
equipment, food from unsafe sources, poor personal hygiene, and
inadequate cooking (Lynch, Painter, Woodruff, & Braden, 2006;
WHO, 1989).
Earlier studies conducted on adults have indicated that food
safety knowledge tends to increase with age and practice: females
have higher scores than males, and younger respondents show the
greatest need for additional food safety education (Bruhn & Schutz,
1999; Byrd-Bredbenner et al., 2007; Rimal, Fletcher, McWatters,
Misra, & Deodhar, 2001; Unusan, 2007). Williams et al. (1992) suggested that children and adults are usually unaware of basic methods of food handling and preparation, although a substantial
proportion of food-borne illnesses can be attributed to improper
preparation according to Redmond and Grifth (2003). The need
for enhanced food safety education started to be recognized in
developed countries with the launch of national initiatives to nd
ways to educate consumers effectively, especially youngsters and
adults who prepare food (Haapala & Probart, 2004). Although this
is such an important issue, there is no education program or legal
responsibility in Turkey to enhance food safety knowledge and
practices of consumers in any age group, or to ensure that this
knowledge becomes part of their everyday practice.
This study was conducted in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey,
so as to determine the food safety knowledge and practices of the

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N. sanlier / Food Control 20 (2009) 538542

young and adults. Learning about basic knowledge, practices and

behavior of young and adult consumers is essential for the development of effective health education programs in Turkey.

Table 1
Distribution of the right answers given by youth and adults to questions related with
food safety
Statements

2. Material and methods

2.1. Research design
A cross-sectional study was conducted from April to December
2006 on food safety knowledge, practice and behavior of young
and adult consumers in the districts of Ankara, the capital city of
Turkey. The research sampling was formed from 815 young and
646 adult (totaling 1461) voluntary consumers. Participants in
the 1419 years age range were classied as young and the participants in the 20 years and above age range as adult consumers.
Initially, the aim was to survey 1500 consumers. However, 39 consumers who initially agreed to participate left the study during the
survey process. Twenty years ago, there was a traditional family
life in Turkey, therefore meal preparation and cook were women
task, but nowadays the number of working women was increasing.
Both men and women share household duties. Cook and preparation meal is not a task primarily practiced by one gender.
2.2. Instrumentation
The research data was collected through a questionnaire and
face-to-face interviews. The 21 item written questionnaire was a
modied from other researchers (Buyruk & Sahin, 2002; Duffy,
1998; Sammarco, Ripabell, & Grasso, 1997; Unusan, 2007).
The questionnaire was pilot tested by 150 participants from
April to June 2006, resulting in minor modications made to the
wording of questions. The revised questionnaire was divided into
three sections:

1. You should test milk rather than

look at its expiry date to
understand if it is safe or not ( )
2. It is wrong to eat tinned food if the
cover of the tin is bloated or tight
3. The safest way to control if meat
has been cooked well is to check
its internal temperature with a
food thermometer with a food
thermometer
4. Internal temperature of chicken
must be high for safe cooking
5. Pasteurized milk can be stored at
refrigerator temperature for a
maximum of 3 days in its
unopened box
6. The most suitable temperature
(47 C) at which bacteria grows
is the temperature of the
refrigerator ( )
7. If a cutting-board will be used to
cut different types of food such as
vegetables and meat, you should
clean the board with a clean
towel to prevent bacterial growth
( )
8. Raw chicken, sh and meat should
not contact each other
9. Bacteria transmitted from hands
to food can result in the growth of
harmful microorganisms in food
10. It is enough to hold your hands
under cold tap water before
touching food so as to get rid of
bacteria ( )
*

1. A demographic section.
2. Food safety knowledge (10 questions).
3. Food safety practices (11 questions).
Answers were graded by giving a point for the right answers
and 0 point for the wrong answers given to the questions related
with food safety knowledge. The scale (which were related with
safe food preparation practices) included a set of negative sentences (see Table 1, statements 1, 6, 7 and 10) in addition to the positive ones. Responses to the positive sentences had been graded as
follows: almost never, 1 point; sometimes, 2 points; often, 3
points; and always, 4 points. In the negative sentences, the
grades had been assigned in a reverse order. Scores regarding food
safety knowledge vary from 0 to 10 and the scores regarding safe
food preparation practices vary from 11 to 44.
Croncbach alpha coefcient of internal consistency was used to
estimate the reliability of the questionnaire. Alpha coefcient of
0.76 was considered to be acceptable for food safety knowledge.
Each questionnaire took 20 min. to administer. Data was collected on weekends and weekdays from consumers.

Young
True n (%)

Adult
True n (%)

x2

P
value

97 (11.9)

535 (82.8)

738.31

0.000*

709 (87.0)

605 (93.7)

17.66

0.000*

445 (54.6)

347 (53.7)

603 (74.0)

372 (57.6)

43.67

0.000*

519 (63.7)

494 (76.5)

29.49

0.000*

157 (19.3)

569 (88.1)

682.65

0.000*

414 (50.8)

493 (76.3)

99.68

0.000*

643 (78.9)

536 (83.0)

3.84

0.050

741 (90.4)

594 (92.0)

0.48

0.480

415 (50.9)

594 (92.0)

283.93

0.114

0.388

0.000*

P < 0.05, youth = 815, adult = 646, total = 1461.

signed to each questionnaire. Items in the questionnaire were explained when necessary and administered at one sitting as far as
possible.
2.4. Data analysis
The ndings were analyzed with respect to youth and adults.
The data was analyzed with SPSS software (Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences, version 11.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, III, USA). Mean
responses and percentages of responses in each category were calculated and presented in a tabular form.
Mean and standard deviation values were used to evaluate the
scores. In addition, in terms of the correlation between age and the
scores of food safety knowledge and safe food preparation, Pearson
chi square and t-test results were used in the evaluation of the
questions related with food handling practices. Statistical signicance was set at a P value of <0.05 (Acikel & Kilic, 2004).

2.3. Data Collection

3. Results

The study data was collected by 16 interviewers, each of whom

distributed 94 questionnaires. Interviewers were trained, postgraduates students, who visited selected households or interviewed adult consumers in larger shopping centers and with
young in high schools in Ankara, Turkey. The objective of the study
was briey explained to young and adult consumers by interviewers. To guarantee anonymity of responses and easy identication of
questionnaires by individuals, identity numbers were randomly as-

3.1. Prole of respondents

One thousand four hundred sixty-one questionnaire forms were
lled in by young and adult consumers. Of the adult respondents
56.2% were female and 43.8% were male while 46.6% of young consumers were female and 56.2% male. The majority of the young
respondents were between 14 and 19 years of age and adult
respondents were from 20 to 66 years of age. While the mothers

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N. sanlier / Food Control 20 (2009) 538542

of 90.4% of young consumers were housewives, the fathers of 48.5%

of these young consumers had their own work places. Nearly half
of the adult consumers were housewives (44.6%) and middle and
high school (secondary school) graduates (37.0%).
3.2. Food safety knowledge levels of young and adult consumers
Table 1 presents the right answers given by young and adult
consumers to the questions about food safety knowledge.
Young consumers (88.1%) prefer to taste milk while adult consumers (82.8%) prefer to look at its expiry date to control if it is safe
or not. Most of young consumers (87.0%) and nearly all of the adult
consumers (93.7%) state that tins with lids which are bloated and
tight are unfavorable. Seventy-four percent of young consumers
state that the internal temperature of a chicken must be high for
safe cooking and 76.5% of the adults state that pasteurized milk
can be stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of 3 days in its
unopened box. 88.1% of adult consumers gave the right answer
to the question about the temperature (47 C) at which bacteria
grow and 76.3% to the question about how to clean cutting-boards.
However, the rate of young consumers who know true that raw
chicken, sh and meat should not have contact with each other
(78.9%) and that solely cold water is not enough to clean hands
(50.9%) is lower when compared with the rate of adult consumers
having such knowledge. A signicant relationship has been revealed between the answers given to such questions and age, education status (P < 0.05).

3.3. Safe food preparation behaviors and practices of the young and
the adult
Safe food preparation practices of young and adult consumers
are presented in Table 2.
74.3% of young consumers and 82.0% of adult consumers state
that they always wash their hands before preparing and eating
food at home. Additionally, most of them (40.5% and 56.2%, respectively) express that they wash their hands before eating in school
canteens or at restaurant. While 38.4% of young and 36.1% of adult
consumers use paper towel to dry their hands, most of both groups
(75.8% and 71.9%, respectively) clean their hands before preparing
food comprised of raw meat or ready meat products.
It was determined that 76.6% of young people always clean the
surfaces with cleaners which consist chlorine after every use and
before preparing food, and that half of them (55.1%) put the
remaining food in the refrigerator within two hours, and 65.2% of
them read the expiry date written on the package, and that nearly
half of them (46.6%) taste food to ascertain if it is safe or not. These
ratios are, respectively 72.5%, 55.8%, 62.2% and 58.1% for adults.
Moreover, 61.1% of young consumers eat meat after cooking it
well, 37.5% do not eat raw eggs or raw egg-added food, and
67.9% put the easy-to-spoil food into the refrigerator within two
hours. These ratios are, respectively 86.8%, 57.6% and 77.1% for
adults. The relationship in terms of practice between young and
adult consumers has been found to be statistically meaningful
(P < 0.001).

Table 2
Safe food preparation practices of youth and adults
Practices

Almost never (%)

Often (%)

Always (%)

P value

8.3
5.6

16.2
11.8

74.3
82.0

0.000*

I wash my hands before eating food in the school canteen/restaurant

Youth
12.2
34.0
Adult
7.4
12.5

14.2
23.9

40.5
56.2

0.000*

I dry my hands with a paper towel

Youth
9.9
Adult
16.6

16.8
22.6

34.9
24.7

0.000*

I wash my hands before preparing food comprising raw meat and ready meat products
Youth
2.3
7.2
Adult
3.9
9.9

14.7
14.3

75.8
71.9

0.000*

I clean the surfaces with cleaners which consist chlorine after every use and before preparing food
Youth
1.0
6.1
Adult
3.1
8.8

16.3
15.6

76.6
72.5

0.000*

I put the remaining food into the refrigerator within 2 h

Youth
12.0
Adult
6.2

17.9
22.3

15.0
15.6

55.1
55.8

0.000*

I check the expiry date written on the food packages

Youth
3.7
Adult
5.6

17.7
9.4

13.4
22.8

65.2
62.2

0.000*

I taste food to see if it is safe or not

Youth
22.9
Adult
14.2

19.8
9.6

10.7
18.1

46.6
58.1

0.000*

I eat meat after cooked well, I do not consume rare meat

Youth
17.7
Adult
2.5

13.1
5.0

8.1
5.7

61.1
86.8

0.000*

I do not eat raw eggs or foods made from raw eggs

Youth
43.1
Adult
17.0

13.1
9.3

6.3
16.1

37.5
57.6

0.000*

I put the easy-to-spoil foods into the refrigerator as soon as I buy them
Youth
9.1
10.7
Adult
2.5
3.7

12.4
16.4

67.9
77.1

0.000*

I wash my hands before preparing and eating food at home

Youth
1.2
Adult
0.6

P < 0.05, youth = 815; adult = 646, total = 1461.

Sometimes (%)

38.4
36.1

N. sanlier / Food Control 20 (2009) 538542

Table 3
Food safety knowledge and safe food preparation practice scores of young and adult
consumers

Food safety knowledge score

Safe food preparation practice
score

Youth
X SD

Adult
X SD

P value

5.81 1.43
28.85 7.06

8.01 1.86
30.47 6.14

25.407
4.594

P < 0.001
P < 0.001

Table 4
Correlation between age and participant scores of food safety knowledge and safe
food preparation practice (r)
Age
Food safety knowledge score
Safe food preparation practice scores
**

Food safety knowledge scores

**

0.435
0.100**

0.181**

P < 0.001.

3.4. Food safety knowledge scores and food preparation practice scores
of youth and adults
The average of the food safety knowledge scores of young consumers was calculated as 5.81 1.43 while it was 8.01 1.86 for
adult consumers and, safe food preparation scores of the young
was found to be 28.85 7.06 while it was 30.47 6.14 for adults.
Knowledge scores and food handling scores of adult consumers
are higher than the scores of young consumers and the relationship
between them is signicant (P < 0.001) (Table 3). A correlation was
determined between age and the scores of food safety knowledge
and practice; and between food safety knowledge scores and safe
food preparation practice scores (P < 0.001) (Table 4). A simply
say that the knowledge and food handling scores of the adult consumers were signicantly higher (P < 0.001) than comparable
scores of the young consumers.
4. Discussion
Although the public is increasingly concerned about food-related risks, the rise in food poisoning cases suggests that people
still make decisions of food consumption, food storage and food
preparation that are less ideal from a health and safety perspective
(McCarthy et al., 2007). The percentage of cases arising from food
preparation practices in the home may be especially under-represented in outbreak statistics, due to many factors (Day, 2001).
Studies have estimated that between 50 and 87% of reported
food-borne disease outbreaks have been associated with the home
(Redmond & Grifth, 2002). Common mistakes identied comprise
serving contaminated raw food, raw food of animal origin, and the
practice of poor hygiene (WHO, 1999).
Although it is of great importance for consumers to distinguish
safe food and to develop food safety knowledge, behaviors and
practices; there are only a few studies conducted on food safety
knowledge and the perceptions of consumers in Turkey. In fact,
many studies have revealed that old or very young consumers
and consumers of low educational backgrounds and income levels
are exposed to much more risks when compared with young consumers (Baker, 2003; Dosman, Adomowicz, & Hrudey, 2001; Goktolga, Bal, & Karkacier, 2006). In another study, signicant
differences were found in food safety perceptions for age, gender,
household income, education and employment in the food industry. In addition, a signicant relationship has been determined between the perception of safe food by consumers and their behavior
(Roseman & Kurzynske, 2006). Food mishandling is thought to be
more acute for young adult men and individuals with an educa-

541

tional level beyond high school than other groups (Altekruse, Yang,
Timbo, & Angulo, 1999). akiroglu and Uar (2007) found that food
hygiene perception scores are higher in women than men, as well
as in the above-45 group than in other age groups and in university
graduates. In many societies women are more informed about
appropriate methods of food handling and storage than men. Better educated consumers often recognize the importance of food
safety and younger respondents have shown the greatest need
for additional education on food safety (Bruhn & Schutz, 1999;
Li-Cohen & Bruhn, 2002; Sudershan et al., 2007).
The results of such studies support the results obtained in this
study. Food safety knowledge scores and practice scores of young
consumers are found to be lower than those of adult consumers.
Sammarco et al. (1997) stated that consumers do not have enough
knowledge about personal hygiene, food preparation and storing
practices and that many consumers do not even have basic information about detergents, disinfectants, sterilization, harmful
agents or micros. This study revealed that consumers do not have
enough knowledge about buying, preparing, cooking and storing
milk, canned foods, meat, chicken, etc., that they do not know
about bacteria and do not give care to personal hygiene and the hygiene of their environment while preparing food. Particularly, lack
of information and perception is encountered among young consumers more than among adult consumers (P < 0.001). The fact
that both groups are not equipped with safe food preparation
behaviors and practices and that they have low scores underlines,
once again, the necessity to provide education on food safety.
Low personal perception of the risks related to food safety issues would imply that consumers ignore the potential risk from
microbiological hazards and apply improper measures during
home food preparation and storage practices, improper thawing
of food, or cross contamination, or inadequate storing and reheating of cooked foods. Moreover, an essential knowledge of food
pathogens microbiology may motivate consumers to use safe food
storage, preparation and cooking procedures (Altekruse, Street,
Fein, & Levy, 1996).
The results obtained in this study have revealed the need to develop a state policy regarding education to be given to consumers
in Turkey. Written educational pieces provide a good opportunity
to focus on all food safety practices because they provide educators
with more space to explain the growth of microorganism and their
link to inappropriate practices. With the current low perceived susceptibility, consumers are unlikely to adopt safer practices in their
food handling (Merdol et al., 2003; Unusan, 2007). Several studies
have identied the need for continued consumer education about
the hazards of improper food handling (Finch & Daniel, 2005; Karabudak, Bas, & Kzltan, 2008; WHO, 2000). Food safety education
should be given not only to consumers but also to managers and
staff working in food-beverage processing businesses so as to bring
behavioral changes and to ensure the adoption of positive attitudes
(Coleman & Roberts, 2005; Powell, Attwell, & Massey, 1997). Studies show that the food safety knowledge of managers and staff
working in small and developing catering businesses is at an insufcient level (Bolton, Meally, Blair, McDowell, & Cowan, 2008;
Walker & Jones, 2002).
An efcient and continuous food safety education will enable
consumers (children, youth, adults and the elderly) to learn the
methods for preventing health threatening food safety problems
and change their misguided habits. Programs should feature the
following topics including practical information on microbiology
of food-borne diseases, personal hygiene, suitable cleaning procedures, proper home food preparation, and prevention of cross-contamination and food storage practices (Sammarco et al., 1997).
As a conclusion, it should be ensured that the messages planned
to be conveyed with regard to food safety education programs to
be given to consumers at any age group will be long lasting; the

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N. sanlier / Food Control 20 (2009) 538542

education should be repeated with specic intervals to ensure that

learnt information is turned into attitudes and behaviors; and procedures and processes should be controlled regularly. Such education should be started during childhood and should reach the
masses of people through formal and informal education and mass
media.
5. Limitation of the study
Because the population of this study consisted of consumers in
central Ankara, the results should not be generalized to all youth,
adults, all ages or to the entire country. Although the reliability
coefcient was found to be high, this research measured self-reported behaviors, which are prone to bias by the subjects.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank the postgraduates who have made useful
contributions and have exerted their efforts in the collection of the
study data, and to the young and adult consumers who have answered the questions honestly.
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