충북지역 성인여성들의 가공 식품 구매행동, 영양표시에 대한 인식 및 활용도

Purchasing Behavior of Processed Food, Awareness and Application of Nutrition Labeling among adult women in Chungbuk Province

A survey was conducted to investigate the purchasing behavior of processed foods, awareness and application of nutrition labeling among adult women in Chungbuk area. Subjects included 120 female college students, 93 housewives and 70 dietitians of primary schools. Three hundred questionnaires were distributed from November 2006 to January 2007, and 283 were collected. Processed foods frequently purchased by female college students were "milk/dairy products"(30.8%) and "snacks"(25.0%); those by housewives were "milk/dairy products"(45.6%) and "ramen"(19.65); and those by dietitians were "milk/dairy products"(67.1%) and "chocolate/candy"(14.3%). In terms of the selection criteria when purchasing processed foods, the female college students answered "taste," and both the housewives and the dietitians did "nutrition." Both the female college students and the housewives considered "period of circulation" as the most important element in nutrition labeling, while the dietitians considered "ingredients/raw materials." Both the female college students and the dietitians marked lower reliability scores than the housewives. All of the three groups expressed "Nutrition labeling should be easy to understand" as a demand in the highest percentage. In terms of application of nutrition labeling, 32.9%, 22.5%, and 11.8% of the dietitians, female college students, and housewives, respectively, answered they "always" read nutrition labeling. The proportions who read nutrition labeling were lowest in the housewife group than the other groups. The results showed that there were differences among the three groups in the purchasing behavior of processed foods, awareness and application of nutrition labeling. Therefore, nutrition education according to the characteristics of each group should be provided to improve the application of nutrition labeling.