title: Patterns of food safety knowledge among Australians: a latent class approach.
abstract: This study aimed to examine food safety knowledge and its associations among Australians. An Internet-based nationwide survey of 2,022 consumers was conducted in 2011. Quota sampling was used to ensure that the age, gender, educational background, and state of residence of the respondents were representative of the Australian population. A list of 10 food safety knowledge items was administered along with questions about the respondents' food attitudes, demographics, school education, and diet practices. Overall, the results showed that safety knowledge was relatively poor. Latent class analysis identified two groups of respondents with different levels of food safety knowledge. Poor knowledge was negatively associated with age, the female gender, university education, experience of home economics or health education at school, the use of salt reduction diets, and general interest in food issues. The study's limitations and implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia. tonyw@deakin.edu.au
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Worsley
authors.forename: Wei C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yeatman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001315:Australia; D003625:Data Collection; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D059022:Food Safety; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult