The Knowledge and Attitudes of University Students about Food Additives

Abstract

This studv has been conducted in order to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes o f students about fo o d additives, on 404 male and 59,6 female students who are from d iffe ren t u n iv e r s itie s in Ankara. It has been fo u n d that 9.2 % o f students don't semtinize fo o d labels. The 77.3 % o f them don't ev en know the name o f any fo o d additive and 49.6 % don't know the defınition o f E codes. In this study 7.9 % o f the students don't know the purpose o f using fo o d additives, 18.2 % think that ali; and 52.0 % think that some fo o d additives are harmful. It has been deteeted that the percentage o f the ones, who think that the control o f food additives is not suffıcient, is 71.1; whereas 7.6 % don't know the purpose o f controling them, 70.8 % don't know how the legislation o f fo o d additives is established, 3.5 % don't know where to get the reliable Information about the subject. Results o f this study shows that the knowledge o f students about fo o d additives is insuffıcient and the necessity o f further studies which will provide the education o f consumers by experts o f this fıeld.