A Study to Assess the Online Food Ordering Practices of Nutrition Students

Knowledge about food is considered to be beneficial not only for food choice but also for general health. Continuous poor food choices and unhealthy diet lead to many health problems. The aim of this study was to assess the practice of nutrition students towards online food ordering. The study population included 197 students in the age group of 17-24 years. A pre-validated questionnaire consisting of semi open-ended and close-ended questions was used for data collection. Data for anthropometric measurements was collected and BMI of each subject was calculated. For statistical analysis, methods like percentage, mean, standard deviation and �chi square� test were used. The study revealed that 29 % of the students eat out twice a week and fast food was the most preferred option. Swiggy was the most preferred app and convenience influences most of them to order. Most of the subjects preferred cash on delivery as the mode of payment.81 % of the subjects spend more than Rs.500 per week; taste of the food was ranked first whereas cleanliness ranked last. Chi square test was applied and it was observed that obese and overweight subjects were spending more money and were giving priority to taste of the food for ordering than the normal subjects. Through chi square test, it was observed that health was given the least importance by these students while cost was given more and that they didn�t consider the nutritional values of the food ordered. Chi square test revealed that 50 % of the total respondents were not aware of FSSAI guidelines for food aggregators in spite of being nutrition students. The findings reiterate the fact that eminence was not given to nutritional values of the food and health was also neglected while ordering online food even though they were nutrition students.