• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.73-78
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• 2019

This study aimed to assess the level of food safety knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) among 500 Food handlers of hospitals in Korea and to explore the association between their knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) and the socio-demographic characteristics. Self-reported questionnaire contains 50 questions: 15 for knowledge, 15 for attitude, and 20 for practice on food safety. The results showed that the overall mean of the knowledge score is 3.25, attitude 3.65, and practice 3.36 respectively. There was a significant difference between the mean score for knowledge, practice and overall KAP in three aged groups. Also, the overall KAP scores were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by the education level, where the average scores increased with the level of education. Public health preventive education and program should be provided to the food handlers in order to minimize foodborne hazards.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.455-459
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• 2017

Norovirus (NoV) is the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis in all age groups worldwide. In this study, prevalence of asymptomatic norovirus infection was investigated in food handler being employed at food catering facilities in South Korea. A total of 2,729 fecal specimens from asymptomatic food handlers were analyzed, and 1.06% of food handlers (29/2,729) had asymptomatic NoV infection. Of these, 17.2% (5/29) were positive for NoV GI and 82.7% (24/29) were positive for NoV GII. Especially, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that GII-4 was the most prevalent genotype and a large number of asymptomatic food handlers were infested with norovirus GII-4 strains. The results of this study show that asymptomatic food handlers may be potential transmission sources for NoV infection. These results emphasize the need for training of food catering employees about norovirus prevention. Asymptomatic norovirus infection should receive more attention.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.573-586
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• 2016

The present study was conducted on 200 food handlers employed at restaurants with open-kitchens in Seoul to evaluate their food sanitation knowledge levels and practices. A majority of participants (88%) replied that open-kitchens are more hygienic than common kitchens due to the sanitary cooking process. The correct answer rate was 94.3% for sanitation of instruments and utensils and environmental sanitation, whereas food handling sanitation (66.8%) was ranked at the bottom among food sanitation knowledge. Total scores of food sanitation knowledge were significantly influenced by education level and ages of food handlers (p<0.001). Personal hygiene knowledge level of food handlers regarding institutional food service was higher than that of food handlers at restaurants and bakeries (p<0.001). Food sanitation practices scores showed significant differences in personal hygiene (p<0.001) and environmental sanitation (p<0.05) according to certificate possession. As the result of correlation analysis between food sanitation knowledge and practices, there was no significantly positive correlation, whereas a significant positive correlation was observed between knowledge of food handling and personal hygiene practices (p<0.05). The results show need for improvement in both knowledge and practice levels of open-kitchen food handlers. Consistent and customized food sanitation education program should be developed to protect against food poisoning at open-kitchen restaurants.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.7
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• pp.79-87
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• 2020

The environmental problems caused by food waste have been a steady social issue, and the severity of the problem emerged as the 2013 London Convention banned the marine emissions of waste water. The government implemented measures related to food waste, but prior studies showed that it lacked continuity and lacked strategies for each area of occurrence, and emphasized that citizens' participation is important to implement effective reduction policies. Therefore, this study proposed a food waste disposal machine through user experience analysis as a way to induce civic participation. To this end, the design development direction was outlined in this study after the pre-research and user survey stages through FGI and user journey maps. Based on this, the proposed treatment machine facilitates the frequent discharge of waste and simplifies the process of food waste in the home. In addition, the moment of direct contact between the user and waste is only the point at which the waste is released to the handler, thereby minimizing the negative experience the user has experienced.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.10-16
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• 2000

Objectives : This study was carried out to investigate the sources of infection and modes of transmission of an outbreak of shigellosis that occurred among students of B middle and high school in Bonghwa, Korea from May 1 to 21, 1999. Methods : We conducted questionnaires to 468 students, 38 stalls and 9 food handlers twice times (May 6, May 21) for follow up and secondary attack rate. Personal details and history of illness and exposure to particular foods were sought. And we conducted rectal swab for culture to 243 students, 33 staffs and 9 food handlers. Bacteriological examinations of water in the school were done. Cases were identified as subjects who had diarrhea (two or more loose stools in a 24-hour periods) on or after May 1. Results : A total of 307 cases (attack rate: 59.6%) of 515 subject were identified, including 50 confirmed (46 students and 4 staffs) by S. sonnei. All 9 food handlers denied illness and were had rectal swab for culture at May 6 that were negative for S. sonnei. 146 of 307 reported fever, 156 had tenesmus, 44 reported vomiting, and only 5 of 307 reported blood in the stool. The median duration of diarrhea was 4 days (range: 1-18 days). The mean incubation period until onset of diarrhea was 63 hours (range: 46-144 hours) and the secondary attack rate was 2.8% (43 cases of 1,561 family members). Risk for illness was higher among students who had eaten watered kimchi at March 30 than among those who did not [301(72.7%) of 417 versus 5(9.6%) of 52; RR=7.51;95% CI=3.26-17.31]. Conclusion : The source of infection was estimated to be contaminated watered kimchi by ore or two food hardier who is presumed to be carrier.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.264-271
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to investigate contamination sources of baby leafy vegetables by assessing microbial loads on baby leafy vegetables and agricultural inputs contacted with the vegetables. To estimate microbial loads, fecal indicators (coliform and Escherichia coli) and foodborne pathogens (E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Bacillus cereus) were examined. A total of 126 samples including eleven kinds of leafy vegetables, irrigation water, media, and tools were tested, resulting in coliform contamination observed from most of samples. For E. coli, 10.3% (13/126) of the samples were positive including irrigation water, knife, handler, media, tools, and three kinds of leafy vegetables. B. cereus was detected from 38% (48/126) of the samples including media, tools and three kinds of leafy vegetables. No E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., and L. monocytogenes was detected. This result implies that contacting with agricultural inputs could explain microbial load of baby leafy vegetables.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1312-1315
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• 2008

High throughput-drug screening plays a pivotal role for early stage of drug discovery process. In the course of assay development for screening of cell death-inducing agents, a protocol that is simple, time-saving, and high throughput-compatible was designed which was confirmed that the protocol can be worked by a HTS-compatible machine. In 96-well format, PC-3 cancer cells (1${\times}10^{4}$ cells/ml) were cultured for 24 hr. After 24 h-incubation with various medicinal plants extracts, the cells were then stained with DAPI for 30 min. The fluorescence intensity of the stained cells was measured semi-automatically with a multilabel counter. To test whether the present assay system effectively works, we screened about 850 medicinal plant extracts, and selected 1 positive crude extracts that contained cell death-inducing activity. These results suggest that the protocol is highly amenable to HTS implementation for a cell death-inducing agent(s).