Bread ; analysis ; Child, Preschool ; Dietary Exposure ; analysis ; Flour ; analysis ; Food Additives ; analysis ; Food Contamination ; analysis ; Food, Preserved ; analysis ; Humans ; Hydrocarbons ; analysis ; Infant ; Infant Formula ; analysis ; Infant, Newborn ; Risk Assessment

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to reveal the epidemiologic characteristics of the outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson in Busan Metropolitan City and to identify points for improvement to prevent of food-borne disease outbreak. METHODS: This was a case-control study. The control group comprised asymptomatic students in the same classes of the cases. The presence or absence of symptoms, ingestion of each food provided by school meal service, and commonly ingested foods in addition to those foods in meal service were investigated. Moreover, specimens collected from rectal swab, preserved foods, and environmental surface were tested. RESULTS: Of the 6,092 subjects, 1,111 (1,083 students, 22 school personnel, and 6 foodservice employees) were included in the case group; this corresponded to an 18.4% attack rate. Symptoms included diarrhea (n=1,051, 94.6%), abdominal pain (n=931, 83.8%), febrile sensation (n=502, 45.2%), and vomiting (n=275, 24.8%). The epidemic curves of each 10 schools were unimodal. Investigation of food intake showed a significantly high odds ratio for chocolate cake in 5 out of the 10 schools. Laboratory test detected Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson both in rectal swab specimens of 9 schools and in collected preserved chocolate cakes of 9 schools. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis test result showed that Salmonella enterica seorvar Thompson isolated from human and foods were the same. CONCLUSIONS: The source of infection for the Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson outbreak in the 10 schools of Busan Metropolitan City is chocolate cake. Traceback investigation for origin of contaminated food in food-borne disease outbreak and safety control during food production should be more enhanced.
Abdominal Pain ; Busan ; Cacao ; Case-Control Studies ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Food, Preserved ; Foodborne Diseases ; Gastroenteritis ; Humans ; Korea ; Meals ; Odds Ratio ; Salmonella enterica ; Salmonella Infections ; Salmonella ; Sensation ; Serogroup ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: This study examined the food purchases from e-commerce and its relation to eating behaviors or habits in adult women in Incheon and Gyeonggi. METHODS: A total of 410 subjects participated in the questionnaire survey. Food purchases in e-commerce and food habits were compared according to age, marital status, and food purchase status in e-commerce of the subjects. RESULTS: Approximately 88% of the subjects had experience of buying foods by e-commerce; more than 40% of the subjects spent less than 100,000 Won buying foods by e-commerce in the past 6 months. The major purchases were coffee and tea, instant food and frozen food, and water and beverages. The reasons for buying foods in e-commerce were cheaper price, convenience of delivery, and variety of food choices. The main factors considered for purchasing foods in e-commerce were price and quality followed by rapid and accurate delivery, and food label and information. Approximately 70% of the subjects were very satisfied or satisfied with their food purchase in e-commerce, and 96% answered that they were willing to buy food in e-commerce again. The perception on the advantages of food purchases in e-commerce was 3.6 points out of 5 and significantly lower in the over 50s and married group. The subjects with experience and high cost of food purchase in e-commerce showed significantly low scores of dietary behaviors and eating habits, which is undesirable. CONCLUSION: A high percentage of people purchased foods by e-commerce, and they showed undesirable eating habits, especially when the cost of purchasing foods by e-commerce is high. These results showed that purchasing foods in e-commerce may be related to consumers' food habits. Therefore, continuous attention and nutrition guidance for e-commerce consumers are needed.
Adult ; Beverages ; Coffee ; Eating ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Food Habits ; Frozen Foods ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Incheon ; Marital Status ; Tea ; Water

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to reveal the epidemiologic characteristics of the outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson in Busan Metropolitan City and to identify points for improvement to prevent of food-borne disease outbreak.METHODS: This was a case-control study. The control group comprised asymptomatic students in the same classes of the cases. The presence or absence of symptoms, ingestion of each food provided by school meal service, and commonly ingested foods in addition to those foods in meal service were investigated. Moreover, specimens collected from rectal swab, preserved foods, and environmental surface were tested.RESULTS: Of the 6,092 subjects, 1,111 (1,083 students, 22 school personnel, and 6 foodservice employees) were included in the case group; this corresponded to an 18.4% attack rate. Symptoms included diarrhea (n=1,051, 94.6%), abdominal pain (n=931, 83.8%), febrile sensation (n=502, 45.2%), and vomiting (n=275, 24.8%). The epidemic curves of each 10 schools were unimodal. Investigation of food intake showed a significantly high odds ratio for chocolate cake in 5 out of the 10 schools. Laboratory test detected Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson both in rectal swab specimens of 9 schools and in collected preserved chocolate cakes of 9 schools. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis test result showed that Salmonella enterica seorvar Thompson isolated from human and foods were the same.CONCLUSIONS: The source of infection for the Salmonella enterica serovar Thompson outbreak in the 10 schools of Busan Metropolitan City is chocolate cake. Traceback investigation for origin of contaminated food in food-borne disease outbreak and safety control during food production should be more enhanced.
Abdominal Pain ; Busan ; Cacao ; Case-Control Studies ; Diarrhea ; Eating ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field ; Food, Preserved ; Foodborne Diseases ; Gastroenteritis ; Humans ; Korea ; Meals ; Odds Ratio ; Salmonella enterica ; Salmonella Infections ; Salmonella ; Sensation ; Serogroup ; Vomiting

BACKGROUND: This study was aimed at finding out the exposure level of bisphenol A (BPA), a well-known endocrine disruptor, in relation to dietary factors using a data representing the Korean general population. METHODS: This study was performed on 5402 adults aged 19 years and older based on the Second Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS 2012–2014). The data analyzed urinary BPA concentration in relation to socio-demographic variables, health behavior-related variables, and dietary factor-related variables. Odds ratio (OR) was calculated through a logistic regression analysis after dividing the participants into high BPA exposure group and low BPA exposure group based on the top 75 percentile concentration. The logistic regression analysis was carried out considering the appropriate sample weight, stratification, and clustering of the second KoNEHS sample design. RESULTS: The group drinking bottled water at home and the group using zip-top bags/plastic bags showed significantly higher urinary BPA concentration in female. OR tends to increase as the intake frequency of frozen food increased and OR of frozen food consumption of more than once a week was 1.48 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–2.24) for male and the group drinking bottled water showed significantly higher OR of 1.45 (95% CI 1.06–2.17) after adjusting the related factors for female. CONCLUSIONS: BPA levels were high in female using bottled water and in male consuming frozen food, and therefore bottled water and frozen food need to be avoided to reduce BPA levels.
Adult ; Drinking ; Drinking Water ; Environmental Health* ; Female ; Frozen Foods ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Odds Ratio

OBJECTIVETo analyze the nutritional ingredients of daily consumed pre-packaged foods in Chinese adult residents.

METHODSFrom October to December 2013, the nutrition labels of pre-packaged foods consumed in continuous 7 days by 706 adult residents were collected by multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling in 18 communities with 360 households in 9 cities in China including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenyang, Haerbin,Jinan,Zhengzhou, Changsha and Nanning. The contents of energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, sodium and the percentages of low-fat and low-sodium foods were compared among 7 different kinds of foods including baked foods, convenient foods, leisure foods, puffed foods, milk, beverages and seasonings.

RESULTS871 kinds of pre-packaged foods were collected. The median (min, max) of energy contents of puffed foods, baked foods and leisure foods were 2 155(1 638-2 785) kJ/100 g, 1 980 (582-2 639) kJ/100 g, 1 575 (353-3 015) kJ/100 g respectively. The median (min, max) of fat contents of puffed foods, baked foods and leisure foods were 30.0 (5.0-40.9) g/100 g, 20.5 (0.3-40.5) g/100 g, 15.1 (0-71.4) g/100 g respectively. The contents of carbohydrate of baked foods, convenient foods and puffed foods were high relatively, the medians (min, max) of which were 58.1(19.8-82.5), 56.5(0-90.7), and 56.1(42.6-75.8)g/100 g respectively. The sodium content of seasoning was the highest, which was 2 177 (20-12 000) mg/100 g. The protein content of beverage was the lowest, which was 0.4(0-17.8)g/100 ml.

CONCLUSIONThe energy and fat contents of puffed foods, baked foods and leisure foods were high. The carbohydrate contents of baked foods, convenient foods and puffed foods were high relatively. The sodium content of seasonings was high. The protein contents of beverages were low.

Adult ; Beverages ; China ; Cities ; Dietary Carbohydrates ; Dietary Fats ; Dietary Proteins ; Food ; Food, Preserved ; Humans ; Nutrition Surveys ; Nutritive Value ; Sodium, Dietary

Frozen food processing workers work under a cold environment which can cause several adverse health effects.This study explored factors affecting workers' health in the frozen food industry in Thailand. Participants comprised 497 workers exposed to a cold working environment and 255 office workers who served as the controls. Data were collected by a survey on the work environment, and the interview of workers for abnormal symptoms. The exposed group had the following characteristics: 52.7% male, overall average age of 27 (SD 6.6) years old, attained elementary education (Grade 4 and Grade 6) (54.1%), married (48.9%), smokers (21.3%), alcohol consumption (31.0%), duration of work was between 1 and 5 years (65.2%), working 6 days a week (82.7%), 1-5 hours of overtime per week (33.8%), office workers (33.9%); work category: sizing (6.9%), peeling (28.3%) dissecting (22.2%), and in the warehouse (8.6%). The temperature in the work environment ranged from 17.2degreesC to 19.2degreesC in most sections, -18.0degreesC in the warehouse, and 25degreesC in the office areas. Warehouse workers had more abnormal symptoms than controls including repeated pain in the musculoskeletal system (OR 11.9; 95% CI 6.12-23.45), disturbance throughout the body (OR 4.60; 95% CI 2.00-10.56), respiratory symptoms (OR 9.73; 95% CI 3.53-26.80), episodic finger symptoms (OR 13.51; 95% CI 5.17-35.33). The study results suggest that workers' health should be monitored especially with regard to back and muscle pain, respiratory symptoms, episodic finger symptoms, and cardiovascular symptoms. Health promotion campaigns such as antismoking and reduction of alcohol consumption should be established because smoking and alcohol consumption are contributing factors to the pathogenesis of Raynaud's phenomenon and peripheral vascular disorders such as hypertension and heart disease.
Alcohol Drinking ; Education ; Fingers ; Frozen Foods* ; Health Promotion ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Male ; Musculoskeletal System ; Myalgia ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Thailand*

The purpose of this study was to examine food habits and dietary behavior related to using processed food among male college students residing in dormitory and self-boarding in Gangwon. A total of 344 students (dormitory group: 227, self-boarding group: 117) were surveyed from May to June of 2012. The results are summarized as follows: self-boarding group had a significantly higher frequency of skipping breakfast and lunch and frequency of out meal compared with the dormitory group (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, p < 0.05 respectively). The self-boarding group had a significantly lower the score of 'eat vegetables and Kimchi at every meal' (p < 0.001) and 'eat a variety of food everyday' (p < 0.001) compared with the dormitory group. The self-boarding group had a significantly higher the preference for meat products (p < 0.05) and canned food (p < 0.01) for selecting processed food compared with the dormitory group. The consideration for selecting processed food was ranked by 'taste', 'price', 'expiration', 'appearance' and 'nutrition' in both dormitory and the self-boarding group. In the dormitory group, nutrition labels were identified certainly 2.6%, sometimes 12.8%, and rarely 17.2%. In the self-boarding group, nutrition labels were identified certainly 1.7%, sometimes 18.0%, and rarely 24.8%. The necessity of nutrition education was high in both dormitory group (51.6%) and the self-boarding group (62.4%). Therefore, development of an educational program and application of the information from nutrition labels for male college students, especially self-boarding students will be effective in improving dietary life in order to maintain healthy dietary habits.
Breakfast ; Food Habits ; Food, Preserved ; Humans ; Lunch ; Male ; Meals ; Meat Products ; Vegetables

Dietary habit of excess sodium consumption is formed mainly by excessive salt intake from the younger age and this may lead to hypertension, stroke, and stomach cancer. This study was performed to estimate the salt content in kindergarten meals and provide basic data on meal providers' dietary attitude to sodium intake for nutrition education. We collected data on161 food items from 16 institutions in Gyeonggi-do and salt content was calculated from salinity and weight of individual food items. The average salt content from lunch meals was 2.2 g, which was about daily adequate intake of sodium for children aged 3 to 5 years old. Greatest contributor to the salt content in a meal was soup and stew (47.8%). The most salty dishes were sauces and kimchi followed by stir-fried food, deep-fried food, braised food, and grilled food. The salt content was higher in soup and stew despite of low salinity, due to the large quantity per serving. The salt contents of soups and kimchi were 40.6% and 14.3%, respectively of the total salt content in dish groups. Staff members and caregivers at home who prepared food for the child showed preference for one-dish rice meal, dried fish and salted mackerel, and broth when eating soup, stew, and noodles. Caregivers showed higher sodium index score and had higher preference for processed food such as Ramen, canned food, and ham compared with staff members (p < 0.05). These results suggested that monitoring salt content of kindergarten meals and nutrition education for those prepare meals for children are needed to lower sodium intake in childhood.
Caregivers ; Child ; Eating ; Education ; Food Habits ; Food, Preserved ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Lunch* ; Meals* ; Perciformes ; Salinity ; Sodium* ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stroke

OBJECTIVES: Automobile exhaust gases contain benzene and toluene, which are excreted in human urine as trans,trans-muconic acid and hippuric acid, respectively. Sorbic acid and benzoic acid, used as food preservatives, are also metabolized into trans,trans-muconic acid and hippuric acid in the human body. The purpose of this study is to estimate the level of benzene and toluene exposure according to the commuting mode and duration, residential environment, and preservative-added foods intake in university students who are not occupationally exposed to benzene or toluene. METHODS: Spot urine samples were collected from 211 university students who had no occupational exposure to volatile organic compounds. Information about their smoking history, residence type, traffic environments, commuting mode and duration, and their intake of bottled or canned food or beverages was gathered through a self-administered questionnaire. Urinary concentrations of trans,trans-muconic acid and hippuric acid were measured and statistically correlated to the individual's life style factors. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the urinary concentrations of trans,trans-muconic acid or hippuric acid according to the smoking history. Mean urinary concentration of hippuric acid in females was higher than that found in males. Subjects living in districts with a population density of 1,000~4,999 people/km2 showed the highest urinary hippuric acid level; individuals living in cities of 5,000~9,999 people/km2 population density were next. The mean urinary trans,trans-muconic acid concentration was higher in students who were living where traffic jams are common compared to those who did not, and in subjects whose residence were within 149 m from a 4-lane road compared to those whose residence was not. However, neither mode nor duration of the commute showed any effect on the urinary trans,trans-muconic acid or hippuric acid concentrations of the students. Urinary hippuric acid levels increased when consuming canned fruit or canned coffee, and urinary trans,trans-muconic acid levels increased when consuming fruit juices or pickled radishes. CONCLUSIONS: The inhalation of vehicle exhaust and the ingestion of canned or pickled food may increase urinary hippuric acid and trans,trans-muconic acid levels in individuals who are not occupationally exposed to benzene or toluene.
Benzene ; Benzoic Acid ; Beverages ; Coffee ; Eating ; Female ; Food Preservatives ; Food, Preserved ; Fruit ; Gases ; Hippurates ; Human Body ; Humans ; Inhalation ; Life Style ; Male ; Occupational Exposure ; Occupations ; Population Density ; Questionnaires ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Sorbic Acid ; Toluene ; Transportation ; Vehicle Emissions ; Volatile Organic Compounds