MIDWIFERY STUDENTS KNOWLEDGE AND OPINIONS ABOUT FOOD ADDITIVES

Abstract

Food additives are substances not consumed as food alone, but added to food to maintain and improve the quality of the food or prevent it from undergoing unwanted changes during its preparation, sorting, processing, packaging, distribution, storage and placement on shelves. This study was planned to determine midwifery students knowledge levels about food additives who are to provide education and counseling about nutrition for people in the community they will work in after graduation. The study designed as a descriptive one was conducted with midwifery students attending the Faculty of Health Sciences. 220 students who agreed to participate in the study were included in the study. In order to analyse the data obtained, frequency distribution and chi-square analysis were performed by using the SPSS 22.0. P-values < 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant Of the participants, 38.2% were knowledgeable about food additives. Of them, 51.4% obtained this information through the social media, and 30.0% knew what additives were included in the food they bought. While 21.4% of the participants thought that the safety of food additives was ensured, 53.6% of them changed their minds and did not buy the food if they realized that the food included food additives. This present study shows that the midwifery students participating in the study were not knowledgeable enough about food additives. Their knowledge about systemic diseases caused by food additives, and substances used as food additives was not satisfactory either.