06 Mar 2012 Oz kids can’t see yoghurt for the trees

The overwhelming body of information about food in scientific and popular media makes consumers, even the well informed ones, really confused with no degree of clarity on any issue. While this is understandable, what is alarming is the massive ignorance among children about even the most basic aspects of food, as has just been found by an Australian survey.

Most Australian children in their last year of primary school think cotton socks come from animals while one-quarter believe yoghurt is from plants, a study warning of the growing gap between city and country has found.

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) survey of almost 1 000 students in grades six and 10 found widespread misconceptions about food processing and farming.

An overwhelming majority knew where potato chips and coffee came from but almost 20 per cent of the younger age group – aged between 10 and 12 years – thought pasta came from animals and scrambled eggs from plants.

Some 75 per cent said cotton socks were an animal product and 27 per cent believed yoghurt was derived from plants.

“Primary industry plays a vital role in Australian’s economy and society, but the gap between rural and urban communities is growing, contributing to a lack of understanding of where food and other basic necessities of life come from,” the study said.

The agricultural lobby group which commissioned the survey, the Primary Industries Education Foundation (PIEF), said the findings were of concern as Australia prepared to confront food security and climate change challenges.

“The people who will need to solve the problems related to food security are either currently in school or are yet to be born,” said foundation chief Cameron Archer.