75 pc Oz kids believe cotton comes from animals

Melbourne, Mar 5 (ANI): Three-quarters of Australian children in their final year of primary school believe that cotton socks are derived from animals and 27 percent are convinced yoghurt comes from plants, a new survey has revealed.

Through a national survey of year 6 and 10 students, leading education authority, the Australian Council for Educational Research, found yawning gaps in young people's knowledge of basic food origins.

In a hypothetical lunchbox of bread, cheese and a banana, only 45 percent of surveyed kids in year 6 could identify all three items as sourced from farms.

More than 40 percent of year 10 pupils thought cotton came from an animal and more than one-quarter of their younger peers believed yoghurt came from plants.

In year 10, 13 percent of the children identified yoghurt as a plant product.

The Primary Industries Education Foundation, which commissioned the research to be released today, said the findings were a wake-up call.

"'We're a very urbanised nation," the Age quoted the foundation chairman Cameron Archer as saying.

"Food is relatively cheap; everyone takes it for granted and we're quite complacent about our wellbeing," Archer said.

In total, 900 rural and urban students were surveyed from 61 schools across the states over almost four months to October last year. There were no participants from the ACT or the Northern Territory, but 22 primary school teachers and 31 secondary teachers also took part. (ANI)