Animal product consumption habits of university students: Suluova Vocational School

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the animal product consumption habits of associate degree students at Amasya University Suluova Vocational School. For this purpose, a face-to-face survey was conducted with a total of 285 students, which 159 students from the Veterinary Department and 126 students from the Property Protection and Security Department, between January and March 2020. When the opinions of the students about the food groups were evaluated, it was observed that 71.2% of them thought that the animal-based foods were healthier and 94.7% thought that the products of animal origin had a better protein quality. Furthermore, it was determined that the majority of the students (42.5%) were consuming foods of animal origin because they were healthy. When the animal-based food consumption frequency of the participants was examined, it was seen that those who consumed cheese (37.9%) and eggs (31.2%) every day were in the majority. While most of the participants consumed yoghurt (25.8%), ayran (26.4%), chicken meat (26.3%) and sausage (28.4%) 1-2 times a week, it was found that consumption of beef-veal (30.2%), lamb-mutton (39.6%), fish (48.8%), salami (21.4%) and sausage (29.5%) was rare. Moreover, 25.8% of the participants did not consume butter, 72.3% did not consume turkey meat and 51.9% did not consume pastrami at all. It was found that the majority of university students did not consider any of the criteria of taste, price, brand, quality, hygiene, ease of preparation, smell-color and personal health when buying red and white meat. Finally, when the participants were examined in terms of their milk consumption preferences, it was seen that the majority (47.4%) preferred street milk.