Cheng Yinchu, Zhang Yang, Ma Jun, Zhan Siyan
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Peking University School of Public Health, Beijing, China.
Institute of Child and Adolescent Health of Peking University, Beijing, China.
PLoS One. 2017 Nov 2;12(11):e0187208. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187208. eCollection 2017.
In China, food safety problems have occurred frequently in the past ten years, causing great concern for the public. Adolescents, with higher exposure to problematic food, represent a unique target for interventions aimed at risk reduction. To understand their food safety knowledge, attitude and practice, a cross-sectional survey using paper questionnaire was carried out among 4,220 students (median age of 14 years, 50.3% females) from nine secondary schools in 3 districts of Beijing. The findings showed that the majority of respondents (42.0%) had a high knowledge level. Significant association was found between food safety knowledge score (median = 11, IQR:9-13) and demographic characteristics of region, school type, residence type, habit of smoking and alcohol use, academic record and parents' education background. In terms of attitude and practice, only 17% of those surveyed regarded China's food safety situation as good, 53.6% regarded it as worrying; almost all students (96.5%) did pay attention to food safety; 95.3% of the students had worried about the safety of the food provided by the small restaurants and street peddlers, but in reality, as many as 69.4% often or occasionally bought food from peddlers around their campuses and nearly half continued the consumption of such food in spite of worrying about its safety problems. Overall, the food safety knowledge among Beijing secondary school students was relatively good. They did not show much confidence in the country's food safety situation, but many aware of the safety issues did not bother to change or take action. The study suggests that more systematic and targeted education on food safety is necessary for this age group.
在中国，食品安全问题在过去十年中频繁发生，引起了公众的极大关注。青少年接触问题食品的机会更多，是旨在降低风险的干预措施的独特目标群体。为了解他们的食品安全知识、态度和行为，在北京3个区的9所中学对4220名学生（中位年龄14岁，女生占50.3%）进行了纸质问卷调查的横断面调查。结果显示，大多数受访者（42.0%）具有较高的知识水平。食品安全知识得分（中位数=11，四分位距：9-13）与地区、学校类型、居住类型、吸烟和饮酒习惯、学业成绩以及父母教育背景等人口统计学特征之间存在显著关联。在态度和行为方面，只有17%的受访者认为中国的食品安全状况良好，53.6%认为令人担忧；几乎所有学生（96.5%）确实关注食品安全；95.3%的学生担心小餐馆和街头小贩提供的食品的安全性，但实际上，多达69.4%的学生经常或偶尔从校园周边的小贩那里购买食品，近一半学生尽管担心食品安全问题仍继续食用此类食品。总体而言，北京中学生的食品安全知识相对较好。他们对国家的食品安全状况信心不足，但许多意识到安全问题的学生却懒得改变或采取行动。该研究表明，针对这个年龄组有必要开展更系统、更有针对性的食品安全教育。
