Food safety awareness of selected urban consumers

According to a recent research, over the past decade, 87% of reported outbreaks of food borne diseases in different sides of the world have been associated with food, prepared or consumed at home. These results showed the importance of the consumer knowledge on food safety. The aim of this project was to determine food safety knowledge of Çanakkale residents and from the light of the results, to prepare brochures and give seminars, which include information that people can improve themselves about food safety issues. A survey was arranged in order to show the knowledge of quality assurance systems, the general thoughts about food safety and the shopping and handling habits of people. In this research, surveys were responded by 2000 consumers with face-to-face interviews at stands, being set up on different sides of the city. From the results, the statistical analyses showed that, women and middle age participants were significantly more careful during food shopping and were more interested in food safety issues than men and younger consumers. Consumers with higher education shopped more consciously. However, according to results, nearly all consumers had lack of knowledge, especially on food quality assurance systems and thus, a brochure was prepared to give information on that issues. Key words: food safety, consumer, survey