消費者對於食品安全事件風險分級之認知

行政院衛生福利部於2013年11月公布的食品安全事件風險分級，是為了提升消費者對於食品的風險認知，並可依風險層級分辨事件之風險程度及可能造成的影響。消費者是否對此政策訊息具有分辨能力？本研究的主要目的即為瞭解消費者是否具有食品安全事件風險分級之認知。透過問卷設計，本研究於2014年5月蒐集臺北巿、臺中巿及高雄巿三大都會區18至59歲之454份有效問卷，輔以無母數檢定和迴歸分析。實證結果顯示，第一、消費者對於食品安全事件風險之分級，皆有高估的狀況。第二、利用迴歸分析的結果亦顯示臺灣消費者對於食品安全風險分級的區辨，與政府所推行的分級模式，並不完全相符。對於食品安全事件風險分級制度而言，為能拉近民眾和政府之間對於風險分級認知的落差，仍應持續加強消費者的食品安全風險教育。 Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Ministry of Health and Welfare, has announced categorization of food safety risk levels on November 20, 2013, in Taiwan. The aim of risk categorization in food safety issues is to educate consumers about various risk levels involved with food safety incidents. The effectiveness of this policy has not been fully evolved. The aims of this study were to investigate consumers' perception of the classifications of food incidents in Taiwan. Stratified sampling was applied in conducting surveys following age and gender distribution of the population between ages of 18 and 59. In-person interviews were administered in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. Total valid samples were 454. Non-parametric test and regression analyses were employed. First, survey results indicated that respondents overrated food safety incident classifications. Second, regression analyses also reinforced the findings that consumers may not be able to discriminate food safety risk levels as what have been promoted by the FDA. Findings in this study can be beneficial for government administrative agencies to form a baseline in educating the general public regarding food safety risk communication.