To examine the communication sources through which consumers receive new information regarding food safety issues, we carried out an internet-based survey. For purposes of the survey, we used as a specific example Econa Cooking Oil (hereinafter referred to as Econa Oil), the manufacture and sale of which were suspended in September 2009. Twelve hundred subjects( 20's to 60's) who had used Econa Oil enrolled in the survey. The number of valid answers was 1024. Mass media was the most frequently accessed information source for safety and health information about conventional food. Compared with health benefits, consumers significantly more often obtained information regarding safety issues from government/ public agencies and manufacturing company customer relations. Only a few consumers (5.2-16.0%) accessed the homepage provided by a public agency as the information source, and fewer still (3.1-7.3%) accessed experts (medical doctor, registered dietician, pharmacist, etc.) despite reporting high levels of consumer confidence in experts. Consumers mainly accessed information interpreted by the mass media and personal communication (secondary information) to obtain safety information for Econa Oil. Compared with conventional food safety issues, the proportion of consumers who accessed the safety information provided by government/public agencies and the manufacturing company was significantly lower in the case of Econa Oil. These findings indicate the importance of an effective system for consumers to access the most current food safety information with concrete evidence provided by government/public agencies and manufacturing companies( primary information)

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