Knowledge and attitudes of parents and gastronomy and culinary arts department students towards food additives

This research was conducted to determine the knowledge and attitudes of parents and students of gastronomy and culinary arts departments towards food additives. The sample group of the research consisted of 350 consumers including gastronomy and culinary arts students and parents residing in Bolu province. The research data were collected with a questionnaire form. It was determined that 50.9% of the participants were students, 43.4% were parents, and 5.7% were both students/graduates of gastronomy and culinary arts departments and parents. It was determined that 55.1% of the consumers participating in the research knew what the food additives on the labels were, 28.9% were undecided, and 16% did not know. While 49.7% of the parents and students found the rate of food additive use high, 34.3% thought that they were used to the extent permitted by law. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to determine whether the participants' knowledge and attitudes towards food additives differed according to their demographic characteristics (age, gender, education level, monthly income) and parent/student status. According to the analysis results, it was determined that the participants' knowledge and attitudes towards food additives differed according to their education level (p<0.05), but did not differ according to age, gender, monthly income and parent/student status. As a result, hypothesis H3 was accepted and hypotheses H1, H2, H4, H5 were rejected. Recommendations were made to parents, students studying in the field of gastronomy and academicians regarding the results obtained as a result of this research.