Determining the knowledge of food safety and purchasing behavior of the consumers living in Turkey and Kazakhstan

Complete and balanced nutrition with reliable food consists of the basis of health and protective health services. Therefore, the current study was carried out to determine the knowledge of food safety level and purchasing behavior of 668 consumers living both in Turkey (n=348) and in Kazakhstan (n=320) and to compare the results. Volunteered consumers for the research were given a face to face interview between March and September 2010. It was found that the knowledge of purchasing behavior (14.43±2.56) of food safety (20.82±4.20) of the consumers living in Turkey was higher compared to those living in Kazakhstan (11.84±2.92, 14.74±3.86 respectively) and that the difference between the two countries was statistically significant (p<0.01). In addition, a positive correlation was found between knowledge of food safety and purchasing behavior (r=0.541, p< 0.01); age and purchasing behavior (r=0.325, p< 0.01) and knowledge score of food safety (r=0.148, p< 0.01).   Key words: Purchasing behavior, knowledge of food safety, consumer, Turkey, Kazakhstan.