European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety

Background: During adolescence, food choices are influenced by taste, convenience, family and peer relationships, food availability, and the school environment. Processed food, fast food, junk food and street food are related but distinct concepts and should not be treated as interchangeable.

Objective: To describe food-related knowledge, perceptions, and self-reported food practices among students attending three high schools in selected areas of Dhaka city, Bangladesh.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to December 2022 among 143 students aged 12–18 years attending three high schools in the Mohammadpur and Dhanmondi areas of Dhaka. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a pretested, semi-structured questionnaire translated into Bengali. The available records do not fully document the school-selection process, student sampling frame, randomisation procedure, or formal sample-size calculation. Several questionnaire items had fewer valid responses than the total sample. Findings are presented descriptively and should be interpreted cautiously.

Results: The reported mean age was 15.2 ± 1.3 years (range 12–18). Of 143 students, 136 (95.1%) identified homemade food as more beneficial for physical and mental development. A total of 127 (88.8%) reported preferring fast food as school tiffin, and 128 (89.5%) reported consuming street food. Family members were identified as a source of food and nutrition information by 70 students (49.0%). Some knowledge and perception items had valid denominators below 143; the reasons for these differences could not be established from the summary tables available for this revision.

Conclusion: Among students in the three participating schools, preference for fast food as school tiffin and reported street-food consumption were common, whereas most respondents viewed homemade food as beneficial. The findings are specific to the participating students and should not be generalised to all students in Dhaka or Bangladesh. The dataset must be checked to resolve item-level missingness and numerical inconsistencies, and any adolescent BMI analysis must use an age- and sex-specific reference.