This study is intended to propose the ways environment-friendly farm produce can be used in school meals by examining the opinion of environment-friendly farm produce and its application to school meals in parents with school children and finding the ...
This study is intended to propose the ways environment-friendly farm produce can be used in school meals by examining the opinion of environment-friendly farm produce and its application to school meals in parents with school children and finding the criteria of environment-friendly farm produce quality awareness and the actual condition of using the criteria in elementary school nutrition teachers. The survey was conducted with parents and elementary nutrition teachers by city, eup, myeon unit. Of the total 1,130 questionnaires distributed from Oct. 17~Nov. 2, 2007, 841 questionnaires collected from parents and 104 collected from nutrition teachers were used to the final analysis, with the results summarized as follows;
Parents indicated that a hygienic control of foodstuff(67.1%) is most important in school meals. More than half of parents(50.4%) wanted environment-friendly farm produce to be used in school meals, although the unit price of school meals could be raised. The opinions were highly taken that nutrition teachers buying foodstuff should aware of environment-friendly farm produce and that such farm produce should be used in school meals(67.1). However, only 4.8% of parents responded positively to the question 'Is it enough to buy environment-friendly farm produce with current food expenses·', showing that now, it is impossible to use environment-friendly farm produce in school meals.
For the actual application condition of farm produce in school meals by item, most of schools used common farm produce primarily because the price of common farm produce is not expensive. Many of respondents said that difficulty in environment-friendly farm produce supply lies in short supply(62.5%), revealing that environment-friendly farm produce is limited in items and quantity, too much expensive, and short of information on such farm produce which block the supply of environment-friendly farm produce without a hitch.
The hygiene and safety of foodstuff as well as a harmonious nutrition supply should be prioty in elementary school meals since the target is children in a period of development. Based on the results, suggestions are made as follows;
First, school meals expenses should be increased. Because environment-friendly farm produce cannot be used by the current unit price of foodstuff, it needs raising parents share and ensuring the budget and support from the government and local government.
Second, a special training and program should be provided with nutrition teachers and foodstuff inspectors, in addition to simplified certification steps and certification marks which can be easily identified by foodstuff buyers.
Third, the quantity of environment-friendly farm produce should be guaranteed by the government. Since the decrease in buying environment-friendly farm produce was caused by the difficulty in supplying such farm produce continuously(62.5%), it needs a contract cultivation and a policy for promoting environment-friendly farm produce at the level of local governments, with the need of information site on cyber space to make people share some information on produce and supply.
Fourth, the certification and distribution system for the reliability of environment-friendly farm produce should be guided and directed by administrative agents. It needs a thorough control and inspection system of a special agent related to environment-friendly farm produce, such as a test for the remaining agrichemicals by production, certification, and distribution stage.
Fifth, it needs a standard and inspection criteria of environment-friendly farm produce. Environment-friendly farm produce could be distinguished from common farm produce during inspection by providing a hygienic control guide for school meals, the current criteria of food stuff inspect in schools, with specific contents such as the characteristics and selection tips.
Sixth, the contract system of school meals foodstuff should be improved. A foodstuff supply is based on the lowest price for an open & competitive contract and an electronic contract of the national market(G2b system). But, it is not possible to have environment-friendly farm produce provided by a supplier because of the supplier's nature. So, it is preferable not to apply the lowest bid price to foodstuff. Rather, it needs to implement a distribution system, such as a school meals support center linked with private and public sectors, and administrative support from the related agencies.