Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess food safety knowledge of various undergraduate students on the University of Central Oklahoma campus.
Methods: Each student was given a 10-question survey that included an assortment of questions about food safety. After the survey was taken, students were given an answer sheet that gave a detailed explanation of each question. There were also educational handouts for each student who took the survey.
Results: A total of 163 university students participated in the survey. There were 24.5% male and 74.50% female, 24.4% nutrition majors and 54.6% non-nutrition majors, 59.5% Caucasians, 17.2% Asian, 6.7% African-American, and 16.6% Other. The demographic profile indicated that 29.4% were ≤ 20 y/o, 47.9% were between the ages of 21 and 24, and 22.70% were ≥ 25 y/o. Based on the Food Safety Knowledge Score Test the results are as follows: males scored 7.45 (n = 40), females scored 7.33 (n = 123), nutrition majors scored 7.9 (n = 74), non- nutrition majors scored 6.9 (n = 89), Caucasians scored 7.7 (n = 97), Asians scored 6.4 (n = 28), African-Americans score 7.0 (n = 11), Others scored 7.4 (n = 27), ≤ 20 y/o scored 7.0 (n = 48), ages of 21 and 24 scored 7.4 (n = 78), and ≥ 25 y/o scored 7.7 (n = 37).
Significance: Food safety education is an important topic that needs to be educated to all sexes, ages, and majors. The findings concluded that females, Caucasians, mid twenties, and nutrition majors are more educated about this topic. A need for relevant and motivating food safety education exists in other groups.