Abstract
This study aimed to investigate netizens’ food safety knowledge, attitudes and behavior, status, and their demand for science popularization by WeMedia. Firstly, participants were recruited by WeMedia, including WeChat, Microblog, and QQ. Then, a web-based survey was conducted using a self-designed questionnaire, which comprised 29 items about the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) status of netizens’ food safety and the demand for science popularization by WeMedia. A correct answer on knowledge-related items was assigned a value of 1 point, and the high, medium, and low levels of knowledge had a total of 6–8, 3–5, and 0–2 points, respectively. A correct answer on attitude-related items was given a value of 1 to 5 points, and the high, medium, and low levels of attitude had a total of 16–20, 8–16, and l4–8 points, respectively. A correct answer on practice-related items was given a value of 5 to 1 point, and the high, medium, and low levels of attitude had a total of 22–30, 14–22, and 6–14 points, respectively. Results showed that the distribution of the different levels of the KAP scores were as follows: high (79.0%), medium (20.2%), low (0.8%); high (65.6%), medium (34.1%), low (0.3%); high (70.1%), medium (29.4%), low (0.5%). Approximately 86% of the subjects desired to obtain food safety knowledge from WeMedia. In conclusion, the netizens’ KAP in food safety are relatively optimistic. A large demand for science popularization on food safety knowledge by WeMedia is warranted. The WeMedia has a potentially important role in science popularization and health promotion related to food safety and health behaviors.
Highlights
We identify their demand for scientific food safety knowledge through WeMedia, providing evidence for the popularization of food safety science through WeMedia
China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC), as of December 2017, the number of Internet users in China reached 772 million, amongst which the rural netizens accounted for 27.0%, and urban netizens accounted for 73.0%
The correlation analysis in this study showed that the higher the food safety knowledge scores, the better attitude and behavior; this relationship conforms to the health education model theory
Summary
With the development of society, food safety has caused anxiety to human beings and, has become a topic of interest [1]. According to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately. 600 million people worldwide suffer from eating contaminated food, resulting in 420,000 deaths per year. More than two-thirds of this demographic are young people (18–40 years old) [2]. In 2019, the FAO/WHO International Food Safety Authorities Network (INFOSAN) published a study. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 730; doi:10.3390/ijerph17030730 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
