Abstract
The goals of the School Lunch Program(SLP) are to provide school children with approximately one -third of their daily nutrition requirements at a reasonable price, to foster good food habits, and to contribute to a better understanding of nutrition. In order to provide guidelines and appropriate nutritional information for SLP planning, and to identify inexpensive sources of each nutrient, representative SLP menus were analyzed for nutrient density using the Index of Nutritional Quality(INQ) and for nutrient cost. Recipes and prices of 776 meals were collected from 10 SLP primary schools in Seoul and Kyunggi province in Korea during 1995. From 4829 menu items in 776 meals, the 100 most frequently used menus were selected as representative SLP menus. From these 100 menus, eleven categories of menu were identified according to cooking methods and ingredients. Selected menus were placed into these 11 groups, with 3 to 5 menus in each except the milk group which contained only milk. The mean nutrient content, INQs, and nutrient-cost ratios were calculated for each menu and menu group. Among the 100 representative SLP menus, 'Jiajang-rice' contained the highest energy per serving portion. 'Grilled pollack ' was the highest in protein, 'Seasoned spinach ' in vitamin A, 'Spagehetti' in vitamin B1 , niacin and iron, 'Kongjorim'(hard-boiled bean with sauce) in vitamin B2 , strawberry in vitamin C, and 'fish stew ' and milk in calcium. Among the 11 menu groups, the 'One-dish' group was found to be the highest in energy , protein, vitamin A, B$_1$ and iron. The milk group was a good source of vitamin B$_2$ and calcium . The meat side dish group (panbroiled, fried or steamed )was the most suitable for providing niacin. The fruit group provided the highest level of vitamin c per portion. The nutrient densities(INQs) were found in the soup group (protein), Kimchi group(vitamin A), fruit group(vitamin B$_1$ and C), milk group(vitamin B$_2$ and calcium), stew group(niacin )and vegetable side dish group(energy, protein, vitamin B$_1$ and niacin) , vegetable side dish group(vitamin A), milk group(vitamin B$_2$ and calcium) , fruit and Kimchi groups(vitamin C), and stew group(iron). This information should be useful for school dietitians in planning most nutritious SLP menus with limited budgets. It could also be used for basic guidelines in nutrition education, and for future improvement of the SLP in Korea.
