Development of a Food Literacy Assessment Tool for Healthy, Joyful, and Sustainable Diet in South Korea

BACKGROUND: Food literacy (FL) is important as the ability to consider the unique aspects of food in our lives, society, and environment. The main objectives of this study were as follows: (1) to revisit the definition of FL, considering the cultural, relational, and ecological aspects that were often neglected in previous research, and (2) to develop a measurement tool for adults. METHODS: Expert workshops, the Delphi survey, the test-retest survey, and one-on-one interviews were conducted. The content validity ratio was calculated from the Delphi survey. The correlation coefficient of each item was measured twice, and the Cronbach's alpha was calculated. RESULTS: This study proposed a new definition of FL, including future-oriented values, and suggested three main domains with 33 items: (1) 14 questions in nutrition and safety FL (Cronbach's α = 0.877, average correlation coefficient = 0.70), (2) 8 questions in cultural and relational FL (Cronbach's α = 0.705, average correlation coefficient = 0.71), and (3) 11 questions in socio-ecological FL (Cronbach's α = 0.737, average correlation coefficient = 0.61). CONCLUSIONS: This newly developed questionnaire should be tested in different populations; however, this questionnaire can be a basis for measuring and improving FL for healthy, joyful, and sustainable diets for adults.