This study examined awareness and information acquisition behavior regarding food hygiene and safety of university students to improve safe dietary practices and to get basic information to develop educational materials for food safety. It was conducted among 276 university students of Qingdao University and Liaocheng University in Shandong province, China through a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS Windows V.19.0. To describe characteristics of the respondents, frequency distributions were used. In addition, t test, one-way analysis of variance and Duncan’s multiple range tests were conducted. The results were as follows: The respondents were generally interested in food hygiene and safety. However, the level of awareness regarding the food hygiene and safety system in China was not high. Almost forty-five percent of the respondents did not think that foods produced and distributed in China were safe. For the reasons for their distrust? most of the students replied that they did not trust the safety ‘because of distrust for hygiene of the food process’, followed by ‘because of distrust for food distribution’ and ‘because of excess or illegal use of food additives on food process’. The respondents answered for the concern level toward food hygiene and safety foodborne disease threatened food safety the most, followed by heavy metal contamination? and endocrine disruptors. The respondents acquired most information from electronic media including TV and radio. Most of the students wanted to participate in food hygiene and safety education. Finally, when they found hazardous or foreign materials in food? the most frequent reaction was ‘paying attention in the next purchase’? followed by ‘notifying others’? and ‘letting it go this time but never buying that product in the future’.