BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: With the outbreak of infectious diseases, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), public interest in health and safety has increased, and consequently, interests in food safety have been heightened too. The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze the involvement of various categories of consumers in food safety, the subjective evaluation of food safety in Korea, and the willingness of the consumers to pay extra for safe food according to their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.MATERIALS/METHODS: This study used data from the 2020 Consumer Behavior Survey for Food provided by the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI). The subjects were 6,355 adult household members aged 19 to 75 years old. The survey was conducted from June 10th to August 21st, 2020. The data for the study were subjected to statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, complex sample general linear model, k-means cluster, and multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: The factors affecting the willingness to pay extra for safe food were education level, occupation, monthly household income, presence of a young (teenager) household member, and the subjects’ involvement in food safety. the significant factors affecting the willingness to pay extra for safe food were sex, age, and income level for the group exhibiting a low level of involvement in food safety, while education level and presence of a young household member were the statistically significant factors for the group exhibiting a high level of involvement in food safety. CONCLUSION This study verified the differences in the factors associated with the willingness to pay extra for safe food according to the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, involvement in food safety, subjective evaluation of food safety. This study offers practical implications to the industry and government that would help in directing strategies to strengthen safe food management.

This study was conducted to estimate the appropriate workforce of dietitians by type of kindergarten through the recognition survey and job analysis of the kindergarten. Nutritionists' duties were classified into 6 duties, 28 tasks and 94 task elements. The statistical data analysis was completed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (ver. 25.0). The time spent on 6 duties, including ‘Nutrition management’ (public attached 666.24 hours/year, public independent 843.04 hours/year), ‘Foodservice management Practices’ (public attached 1,472.52 hours/year, public independent 1,298.11 hours/year), ‘Hygiene management of kindergarten foodservice’ (public attached 611.78 hours/year, public independent 607.18 hours/year), ‘Nutrition-diet education and counseling’ (public attached 340.53 hours/year, public independent 253.42 hours/year), ‘Managing snack during semesters and lunch/snacks during breaks’ (public independent 309.04 hours/year) and ‘Professionalism enhancement’ (public attached 88.86 hours/year; public independent 65.17 hours/year). Total working hours for dietitians were 3,179.94 hours/year (public attached) and 3,375.97 hours/year (public independent). The time/day ×5 days/week ×52 weeks/year calculation method using derived total working hours/year was applied to derive appropriate full-time equivalents (FTEs). The analysis showed that the public attached kindergarten’s FTEs were 1.53. The public independent's FTEs were 1.62, and the total FTEs were 1.55. This is the first study to analyze the workload of kindergarten dietitians and appropriate manpower by kindergarten establishment type. It is expected to be a valuable policy basis for efficient operation measures related to the kindergarten dietitians.

α-Synuclein (α-Syn) has a critical role in microglia-mediated neuroinflammation, which leads to the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). Recent studies have shown that bee venom (BV) has beneficial effects on PD symptoms in human patients or 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) toxin-induced PD mice. This study investigated whether treatment with BV-derived phospholipase A2 (bvPLA2) would improve the motor dysfunction and pathological features of PD in human A53T α-Syn mutant transgenic (A53T Tg) mice. The motor dysfunction of A53T Tg mice was assessed using the pole test. The levels of α-Syn, microglia and the M1/M2 phenotype in the spinal cord were evaluated by immunofluorescence. bvPLA2 treatment significantly ameliorated motor dysfunction in A53T Tg mice. In addition, bvPLA2 significantly reduced the expression of α-Syn, the activation and numbers of microglia, and the ratio of M1/M2 in A53T Tg mice. These results suggest that bvPLA2 could be a promising treatment option for PD.
1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine ; alpha-Synuclein* ; Animals ; Bee Venoms* ; Bees* ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Humans ; Mice ; Mice, Transgenic* ; Microglia* ; Parkinson Disease* ; Phenotype ; Phospholipases A2* ; Phospholipases* ; Spinal Cord