Background of Research
As a response to the changing food consumption behaviors, it is necessary to conduct multi-faceted surveys on a continued basis to identify the food consumption trends. However, the government approved statistics regarding food consumption have focused only on the survey on food spending, while the surveys on other areas remained very insufficient. So far there hasn’t been a survey performed to show the overall aspects of food consumption behaviors.
To understand food consumption behaviors in detail and to use them as a useful base of analysis in production and developing a related policy, the representative sampling for food consumption surveys needs to be pursued, being conducted on a regular basis.

Method of Research
For the 2020 survey, we designed a composite sample using newly extracted sample households from Statistics Korea as well as the samples of the 2019 survey.
The areas included in the survey are the consumers’ food consumption patterns (with regards to food choices, nutrition, health, etc.); food purchase and consumption behaviors; food consumer characteristics; eating out patterns; consumers’ self-evaluation on their food consumption patterns; the current status of food consumption education and promotion; and key policy issues. In this study, a two-step survey is designed. First, the household- level survey is designed to ask questions to the main food purchaser of a household regarding the family’s food consumption and the characteristics of the household. Secondly, the household member-level survey is designed to ask questions to any household members (13∼74 years of age) their food consumption status outside of home and individual perceptions on food consumption. When the respondents are adolescents, a different set of questionnaire was used considering their limited experience in terms of food consumption compared with adults.

Research Results and Implications
The survey has found that 36.0% of the households surveyed buy foods two to three times per week and 45.1% of them buy foods once a week, which indicates that the majority(81.1%) of the households surveyed purchase foods once to three times per week. For the question on the most-visited place for grocery shopping, 31.2% of the households answered they visit medium or small-sized community grocery stores, followed by large-scaled discount stores(30.2%) and medium or small-sized stores operated by big enterprise(16.2%). 51.2% of the households surveyed buy their foods on the online grocery shop and they gave 3.79 points and 3.80 points on a five-point scale as a score for the satisfaction with online shopping regarding to price level and quality respectively. Eco-friendly food buyers who account for 55.6% of the respondents scored 3.48 points for the satisfaction with the eco-friendly foods in the respect of price level and 3.65 points of quality. 78.3% of the surveyed households consume functional foods: in particular, vitamin(59.9%) and ginseng(37.3%) are consumed at high percentages.
For the frequency of rice purchase, households who purchase rice every two to three months account for 58.0%. 43.5% of the households surveyed replied that they buy vegetables once a week and 53.6% of households tend to buy vegetables in bulk compared to in small-package. And 48.7% of households buy fruits once a week. Adult household members prefer apples and watermelons, while the household members aged 20 or below prefer strawberries and bananas compared to other fruits. The survey also revealed that consumers mainly concern about freshness, price and the country of origin of products when they buy fruits or vegetables. For fruits, sweetness is also highly considered. Buying meat products, consumers mainly consider freshness, the country of origin and price. 29.4% of the households surveyed have no intention to purchase imported beef from the United States, while a relatively high percentage of the respondents(46.4%) have an intention to eat imported beef from Australia. 41.2% of the households surveyed answered ‘no intention to eat’ for imported pork. For kimchi consumption, 47.4% of households obtain kimchi from their ‘family members or relatives’, and 40.0% of households make it by themselves.
For the satisfaction level on food consumption, households surveyed gave 3.50 points on a five-point scale. At the individual level, adults’ satisfaction score is 3.60 while adolescents’ is 3.67. Adults are interested in whether food ingredients are domestically produced(3.44 points), locally produced (3.29 points) and eco-friendly produced(3.23 points). Adolescents showed relatively lower levels of interest in the same respects; for the matter of whether it is domestically producted(3.30 points), locally produced(3.10 points) or eco-friendly produced(3.09 points).
Households who eat out by family once per two weeks account for 28.5%, and 34.0% of households consider food taste as the most important factor to choose restaurants. About 74.9% of the households surveyed use food delivery or take-out services for family dining. The primary choices of delivery/take-out foods are chicken dishes(34.3%) including fried chicken. Households do not utilize delivery/take-out services because of high prices(22.4%), waiting-time(19.7%), and over-use of chemical seasoning(15.9%).
36.5% of adolescents and 50.1% of adults are interested in food safety issues, and 63.0% of the adults expressed that they are willing to pay higher prices for food safety. Adults assessed Korea's overall food safety as 79.9 points out of 100 point, while adolescents did it as 77.1 points.
For the question on who should play the most important role in food safety management, the food producers top the list followed by the central government, local government, food distributors and food retailers. Concerning the food labeling, adult consumers mostly check prices and the the country of origin when they purchase vegetables and meat products, check expiry date and the country of origin as the priority consideration for processed foods. Concerning the awareness of food labeling programs, the country of origin labeling(94.2%) and the organic farming certification (91.4%) are the most well known. 39.6% of the adult respondents chose lower grades of elementary school as the best timing for basic food education, followed by higher grades of elementary school(21.0%), middle school students(17.5%) and early childhood(16.4%).
Consumer Behavior Survey for Foods is expected to provide the basis for the establishment of food policies and for market analysis. In order to improve the credibility and usability of the survey outcomes, feedback will be collected from the users of statistics improving the survey system accordingly. In addition, follow-up management and disclosure of survey statistics will be conducted.

Researchers: Lee Kyei-im, Kim Sang-hyo, Heo Seong-yoon, Shin Seong-Yong and Park In-ho
Research period: 2020. 1. ∼ 2020. 12.
E-mail address: lkilki@krei.re.kr