Consumers' consciousness on purchasing habits and food safety: Ankara, Etimesgut case.

In this study, a survey was conducted by using face-to-face interview technique in order to determine the relationship between the consumers habits of buying food products, knowledge and awareness levels of food safety and their level of knowledge and consciousness in food preparation and consumption stages and the demographic characteristics such as age, sex, income level, education level, marital status, job of the consumers living in Ankara, Etimesgut. During the study, it was reached 517 consumers including (56,3%) women and (43,7%) men. A questionnaire consisting of 80 questions was applied. When the purchasing habits of the foods that constitute the second part of the survey are analyzed, it is seen that the consumers are mostly shopping at the supermarket when the purchased places for different food groups are examined. Considering the remarkable characteristics of buying food products; the expiry date of the product was at the highest (58,99%); When the reliability measure of the places, where food was concidered, it was found that the highest (73,31%) was trusted on their own products. While paying attention to label information when purchasing food products and whether or not the product contains allergens, demographic characteristics include gender; while paying attention to the packaging material of the product and whether the packaging was damaged or not, there was a statistically significant relationship between the level of education (p <0,05). In the last part of the survey; As a result of the questions asked to determine the level of knowledge and awareness of food preparation and consumption of consumers, it was found that 7,9% of the consumers were low, 77,4% of them were middle, and 14,7% of them were highly conscious. In addition, the relationship between the questions in this group and the demographic characteristics were examined and it was concluded that the level of consciousness was statistically in significant relation with gender (p <0,05) and income level (p <0,01). The most remarkable result of the study are; provides answers to the wrong practices in the kitchen of consumers who are conscious of food safety. These results show us that the concept of food safety is fragmented as knowledge and application area and that if the whole of these parts is understood correctly, food security can be ensured.