Evaluation for Food and Nutrition Information Sites on the Internet

식품영양정보 제공 인터넷 사이트 평가

This study was done to analyze the contents of food and nutrition information sites on the internet. In analysis, 276 web sites were used. Web sites from 3 internet search engines(Yahoo, Empas, Naver) were selected on the date of July 15th, 2004. The trained panels evaluated web sites' contents by the assessment tools using 3-point scale(2:strongly agree, 1:agree, 0:disagree). The contents classified by topics were functional foods(46.4%), cuisine and cooking(38.4%), food sanitation and safety(30.4%) and so on. Operators of web sites were individual(35.9%), company(30.4%) and public institution(33.7%). About 89.5% of web sites were operated for unspecified people. Contents of the web sites were well established especially in consistency in title and contents(1.6), scientific basis of explanations(1.2) and benefit of information(1.2) and so on while not well established in providing relevant sites(0.7), providing contact address and feed back mechanism(0.7) and so on. Web sites operated by public institutions are rated significantly higher than web sites operated by individual or company. In conclusion, in order to qualitatively improve food and nutrition information on the internet, continuing monitoring and evaluation are highly required and web sites operated by public institutions shall be developed further.