An Investigation of Consumers' Consciousness Level About Food Safety in Milk and Dairy Consumption in Urban Area of Niğde Province

Abstract

This study examined consumers’ food safety consciousness and purchasing behavior for milk and dairy products. The data was gathered through the application of a questionnaire developed for food safety in milk and dairy products and purchasing preferences of consumers via face-to-face questionnaires with 272 consumers residing in the urban area of Nigde province. As a result of this study, the milk and dairy products purchased by the majority of consumers were reported, such as cow milk, cow milk products, and butter. It was determined that consumers buy an average of 13.5 liters of milk, 3 kg of cheese, about 10.5 kg of yogurt, and 1.5 kg of butter per month. It was found that 82% of consumers know the concept of food safety, and they stated that they were familiar with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Health as the food safety supervisory organizations. The almost half of consumers purchased sheep and goat milk and dairy products directly from farmers or at open-air markets. This means that the consumers are more vulnerable in consuming for sheep and goat unsafe dairy products. In the study, it was concluded that consumers consider the good for the product’s health to be purchased as the most important criterion when purchasing milk and dairy products

Keywords

• Food safety
• milk and dairy products
• food safety in dairy products
• consumer

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