Recently being recognized as foods with health, nature and convenience, Sunsik & Saengsik have magnified their market rapidly. Though high interest of consumers, separate regulation as well as systematic investigation and research for them hasnt b...
Recently being recognized as foods with health, nature and convenience, Sunsik & Saengsik have magnified their market rapidly. Though high interest of consumers, separate regulation as well as systematic investigation and research for them hasnt been readied.
This study was to investigate the consumer recognition of commercial Sunsik & Saengsik. The data were collected from 395 married women residing in Seoul and Kyungki Province by the self-administered questionnaire. A related purpose was to present the basic research for a more scientific study via the analysis on nutrient composition and hygienic safety.
The questionnaire addressed the following: 1) purchasing behavior 2) consumption behavior 3) the evaluation of the characteristics of Sunsik & Saengsik. The results of the questionnaire were as follows:
1) Purchasing Behavior: 53.4% of the respondents answered that they have used only Sunsik in the past year, 7.1% answered only Saengsik, and 12.7% answered both of them. The purchasing behaviors were significantly different between the two user groups. Sunsik users frequently purchased the products at a discount store(41.0%) as a between-meal snack(36.4%) and a substituted food(34.9%), with the Sunsik usually made fresh(55.0%). However, Saengsik users generally purchased the manufactured products in serving size packages(84.0%) at a health foods store(50.7%) as a health food(38.7%) and a diet food(25.3%).
2) Consumption Behavior: Many of Sunsik users used it in water or milk with sugar(40.7%) 1-2 times a week(40.0%). But Saengsik users more commonly had Saengsik in water or milk with honey(38.6%) everyday(34.7%). Among Saengsik users, 86.7% reported that only adults consumed it at home, higher than the 52.4% for Sunsik users. Additionally, the storage methods were significantly different. Sunsik users usually stored the Sunsik in refrigerators or freezers(82.6%). Saengsik users more frequently stored their foods at room temperature(56.0%).
3) Characteristics: The questionnaire asked users to rate the following characteristics of Sunsik & Saengsik on a 5-point scale: the nutrition as a meal, value as a diet food, value as a health food, value for curing disease, value as a weaning food, purchasing convenience, eating convenience, ease of preparation, taste, price, value in aiding digestion, and dispersibility of powder. For Sunsik, the highest marks were for eating convenience(4.00) and ease of preparation(3.99). For Saengsik, the highest marks came for ease of preparation(3.63) and the value as a health food(3.56). The results of this survey revealed that 55.7% of the Saengsik users felt their product to be safe hygienically, much higher than the 32.5% of the Sunsik users who felt that way about their product. The major safety concern cited by users of Sunsik & Saengsik was the anxiety about pesticide residue.
In addition, we tested five samples each of Sunsik & Saengsik for nutritional composition and hygienic safety. There were significantly more crude proteins in the Sunsik samples, and crude ashes were more common in the Saensik samples(p<0.01). There were no significant differences in moisture, crude lipids, and crude fibers between Sunsik and Saengsik. Sunsik sample E and all the 5 Saengsik samples showed the high total viable plate counts of 4.8~7.0 log cfu/g. In terms of safety, coliforms groups were detected in all the Saengsik samples and two Sunsik samples(A, E). Two Saengsik samples(Ⅳ,Ⅴ) and one Sunsik sample(E) had more coliforms groups than 3.7 log cfu/g. However, E.coli and Bacillus cereus were not detected.