This is of concern to everyone interested in public health because it shows a lack of awareness of the basic food safety messages.

Graeme Miller SCC chairman

Preliminary results from the survey of more than 2,000 Scottish 13 and 14-year-olds were released at the start of National Food Safety Week.

The SCC said the results emphasise the importance of improving the understanding of basic food safety messages.

Graeme Miller, SCC chairman, said: "These findings point to disturbing gaps in young people's knowledge.

"This is of concern to everyone interested in public health because it shows a lack of awareness of the basic food safety messages.

"The fact that eight out of 10 of these pupils said they cooked at home shows the potential for problems to arise."

Food poisoning

The results of the survey will be sent to every school in Scotland later in the year to highlight the problems and better educate children.

"Our survey demonstrates the real need for the constant reinforcement of simple messages to minimise the risk of food poisoning," said Mr Miller.

"It is necessary for public agencies in Scotland to work together to address this and I suggest using the SCC research as a baseline which can be repeated next year to see if pupils' knowledge is improving."

Among the positive findings, youngsters were largely aware of the need to wash hands before preparing food.

National Food Safety Week, which starts on Monday, is organised by the Food and Drink Federation with a range of public sector groups, including the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland and the Food Standards Agency.