• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.295-303
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• 2007

As a result of life-style changes, consumer's concerns of food have shifted from calories and nutrition to health and convenience. Fresh-cut products are one such new direction for fruit and vegetable consumption. In this study, the vitamin C, mineral, and pesticide contents of various fresh-cut products were analyzed. According to sensory evaluations, the key reason for a lower than expected overall acceptability of many fresh-cut products is that they are likely to have browning and can easily lose their freshness. Also, the sensory evaluation showed that shriveling, the degree of browning, softening around the cut edge, and off-flavors were the primary factors affecting the quality of fresh-cut products. As a nutritional factor of quality, vitamin C content was not practical with regard to fresh-cut lettuce because the level was very low. For product safety, residual pesticides were detected in the fresh-cut products, but the results showed that all items were under permitted levels and considered safe. In evaluation of the microbial levels of the fresh-cut market products, the levels of viable cells, mold, yeast, coliform bacteria, and enterobacteriaceae were not significantly different based on the summer and winter seasons. The levels of S. aureus and Listeria spp. in the products were higher during the summer season than the winter.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.99-113
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• 2021

This study aims to analyze the effect of product information quality and source credibility on product arousal in fresh food website. Despite fresh food websites are selling products with various feature, prior studies have focused on consumer behavior for fresh food website characteristics or specific products without considering the feature of the products. Consumers' attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors vary depending on the feature of the product. In other words, depending on the category of product, the decision making process that consumers purchase products can be differ. So, we classify products considering the feature of these products to examine the effect of information quality and source credibility on product arousal into experience goods and search goods. We surveyed 288 consumers having experience of purchase in fresh food website and verified the hypothesis through One-way ANOVA by classifying the information quality and the source credibility as high level and low level. As a result, there was a difference in product arousal according to the product information quality level and the source credibility level for each product category exposed to the fresh food website. In experience goods, source credibility have a more important effect on product arousal than product information quality, and in search goods, product information quality have a more important effect on product arousal than source credibility.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.622-628
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• 2007

Most fresh-cut agri-food products are less stable than unprocessed materials from which they are made. The objective of this study was the development of a quality control system for fresh-cut agri-food products. In this study, vitamin C, minerals, residual heavy metals, and pesticides of various fresh-cut agri-food products were analysed. Sensory evaluation revealed that overall acceptability scores were less than expected in most products since fresh-cut products are likely to cause browning and easily lose their freshness. Therefore, the postharvest technologies that can maintain the quality, freshness and appearance must be supplied. Although vitamin C and minerals are main nutrients that can be supplied from salads, the results showed that vitamin C and mineral contents were very small and extremely small compared with the values from the food composition tables. It is possible that vitamin C and most minerals that are easily destroyed were lost through minimal processes like peeling and cutting. In safety side, the remaining heavy metal contents of fresh-cut agri-food were investigated and the results showed that copper and lead existed in some products because only cadmium in agricultural produce is controlled by the minimum standard of heavy metal contents in Korea. No residual pesticides were detected in all products.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2008

This study was performed in an effort to standardize the quality of fresh-cut products. Here, consumers' perceptions of fresh-cut products were surveyed to determine the quality factors in preparing quality standards for fresh-cut products. According to the surveys, freshness was the most important factor for consumers when choosing fresh-cut products at the market. Secondary indicators of good quality, i.e., "sensory qualities," were determined to be vibrant color, clean taste, nice feel, neat presentation, etc., as well as knowledge of whether it was organically grown. Off-odors decreased a product's marketability. Likewise, the more wilted or brown it appeared, the less a product was desired. From the results, the quality control indices for fresh-cut products were derived as freshness, discoloration, off-flavor, uniformity, prohibition of adulteration by alien substances, packaging and labeling. The quality of fresh-cut lettuce samples was measured against three storage temperatures: $20^{\circ}C,\;10^{\circ}C$ and $5^{\circ}C$. Sensory quality evaluations revealed the following: produce stored at $20^{\circ}C$ lost its marketability in less than one day; produce stored at $10^{\circ}C$ lost its marketability in less than two days; on the other hand, produced stored at $5^{\circ}C$, maintained its marketability for six days. At these respective points, browning started to occur around cut areas, and increased gradually once it began. Vitamin C content decreased with storage time, but storage at $5^{\circ}C$ maintained vitamin content the longest duration. Finally, further examinations were performed on the sensory qualities of fresh-cut lettuce samples at four levels of increased browning. Up to the third level, the product score for marketability was 5.6.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.394-402
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• 2017

This study evaluated how fresh pear cognition variables influences the purchase of primary and secondary products to promote pear consumption. The survey was performed online using 200 consumers who have consumed pears. Consumers' cognition was classified into two groups, one that was more favorable toward fresh pears and one that was less favorable. The cognition toward pear significantly affected the attitude (p<0.001) and purchase intention (p<0.001) toward fresh pear. When consumers bought fresh pear, sweetness was most important among the selection attributes to both groups, and the most common reason why consumers liked the pear analyzed by check all that apply (CATA) was also sweet taste. However, the negative group did not prefer fresh pear because of taste and texture, so those qualities should be well-controlled. In addition, cognition toward primary products influenced liking and purchase intention of processed pear products, especially beverages (p<0.001), bakeries and sweets (p<0.05). Therefore, these types of secondary products should be developed based on consumers' demands.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.397-411
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• 2009

The use of local product foods and fresh-cut products, the dietitian's recognition, the required items and the quality for school foodservice was investigated to increase the consumption of high-quality agricultural products. Data from 578 elementary schools, 228 middle schools and 116 high schools were collected by school foodservice personnels in each regional Education Administration in Gyeong-gi province. The first criteria of buying food materials was reliability/safety for all school foodservice. The second criteria were the origin of the product and freshness/ripeness for elementary and middle schools and high school, respectively. The most important consideration for selecting a supplier was the quality of the material. The appearance/status of the food was the first factor for buying food materials. The origin and the seasonality were very important for buying farm products. Dietitians in Gyeong-gi province recognized the local products, and used them weekly. The advantages of using local products were the quick supply, freshness and safety. On the other hand, the disadvantages were the lack of information and the uncertainty of supply. Sixty eight percent of the subjects had experienced the high-quality agricultural products in school meals, but the frequency was low. The main reasons for not servicing high-quality agricultural products were the high cost and the lack of trust on the quality. Among fresh-cut products, seasonings and root vegetables were purchased most frequently, but leaf vegetables was 5.7% only. The purchase of fresh-cut products was not frequent, but usually satisfied. The advantages of fresh-cut products were the reduced workload and waste, but the reason for not using them were poor hygiene and the high price. The diverse supply system and the promotion of the local product foods would be necessary since the most food materials were purchased through suppliers. In addition, the problems related to the high cost and distrust should be resolved to expand the consumption of the high-quality agricultural products and the fresh-cut vegetables. The institutions for certifying the quality should be needed to increase the confidence of these products.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1566-1571
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• 2005

Consumer's perception and consumption pattern of fresh-cut agri-food Products were surveyed to Provide basic information for quality enhancement. The results are summarized as follows: The respondents had a preference for a discount store (60.5$\%$) to purchase fruits and vegetables and the frequency of purchase was one time Per week (46.1$\%$). Fruits and vegetables were purchased frequently by full-time housewives compared with workers. The reasons for purchasing fresh-cut agri-food generally resulted from a consideration of the saving in cooking time, the ease of handling and the desire to serve appropriate portions. On the other hand, the reasons for not purchasing fresh-cut agri-food Products were the comparatively high price, a perception of unsanitary handling. Freshness was considered to be the most important factor when purchasing these products. The preferred price for the fresh-cut agri-food products were approximately 110 $\∼$ 140$\%$ of that for the unprocessed products. 87.7$\%$ of respondents answered that they will purchase fresh-cut agri-food products continuously if some problems that they considered, would be improved.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2014

This study was performed to evaluate the quality characteristics of three deboned categories of chicken thigh meat: one which was slaughtered and deboned in the same plant (fresh); one which was slaughtered, deboned, frozen, and thawed in the same plant (frozen-thawed); and the last which was slaughtered in a plant, deboned in a different plant, but then transferred to the original plant (fresh-outside). Surface color, drip loss, 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) value, sensory evaluation, and total aerobic bacterial counts of the chicken samples were determined. Moreover, the torrymeter was used to measure the differences in freshness of the chicken meat. The surface color and the TBARS values did not show significant differences among the three categories. However, the total aerobic bacterial counts of fresh-outside and frozen-thawed chicken meat were significantly higher than the fresh chicken meat on the first storage day, and the drip loss of frozen-thawed chicken meat was significantly higher than the fresh-outside and fresh chicken meat. In addition, the sensory evaluation of frozen-thawed chicken meat was significantly lower than the fresh-outside and fresh chicken meat. Torrymeter values were higher in fresh chicken meat than fresh-outside and frozen-thawed chicken meat during the storage period. These results indicate that the quality of frozen-thawed chicken meat is comparatively lower than the fresh chicken meat, and the torrymeter values can accurately differentiate the fresh-outside and frozen-thawed chicken meat from the fresh ones.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2022

Recently, the purchase of fresh-cut produce and meal kits has increased. Ready-to-eat (RTE) fresh-cut products have potentially hazard of cross-contamination of various microorganisms in the processes of peeling, slicing, dicing, and shredding. There are frequent cases of protozoa food poisoning, such as Cyclospora and Cryptosporidium, caused by fresh-cut products. The objective of the study is to investigate the microbiological qualities of various types of RTE fresh-cut products in the domestic on/offline markets. RTE fresh-cut fruits cup (n=100), fresh-cut vegetables (n=50), and vegetables in meal kits (Vietnamese spring rolls and white radish rolls kits, n=50) were seasonally analyzed. The contamination levels of hygienic indicator organisms, yeast and mold (YM), and foodborne pathogens (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli O157:H7) were monitored. Overall, the lowest microbiological qualities of meal kits vegetables were observed, followed by RTE fresh-cut fruits cup and fresh-cut vegetables. Contamination levels of total aerobic bacteria, coliforms, and YM in meal kits vegetables were 5.91, 3.90, and 4.71 logs CFU/g, respectively. From the qualitative analysis, 6 out of 200 RTE fresh-cut products (3%) returned positive result for S. aureus. From the quantitative analysis, the contamination levels of S. aureus in purple cabbage from a meal-kit and fresh-cut pineapple were below the acceptable limit (100 CFU/g). Staphylococcus enterotoxin seg and sei genes were detected in RTE fresh-cut celery and red cabbage from meal-kits, respectively. S. aureus contamination must be carefully controlled during the manufacturing processes of RTE fresh-cut products. Neither Cyclospora cayetanensis nor Cryptosporidium parvum was detected in the samples of RTE fresh-cut products and vegetables from meal-kits from the Korean retail markets.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.67-77
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aims to determine the online shop service performance of fresh food products distribution, consumer motivation, and their relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research design, data, and methodology: A survey was conducted online using Google Forms on 100 consumers of TaniHub application users. Data in the form of scale were analyzed descriptively to explain the service performance and consumer motivation. The service performance consists of technical services and marketing services. Technical service indicators consist of payment, delivery, and products. Meanwhile, the marketing service indicator consists of promotions and prices. The consumer motivation is characterized by reference, actualization, and lifestyle. The relationship between the two was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation. Results: The most consumers are millennial generation who were active in social media. They are employees with Bachelor's and Master's qualifications and included in the middle economic groups. TaniHub online shop had good technical and fair marketing performance. The motivation of online shop consumers of fresh food products through the TaniHub application was high. Conclusions: The findings discovered a significant relationship between online shop service performance and consumer motivation. It indicates the need for improvement in marketing services, especially promotions, to improve the performance of this e-agribusiness company.