Assessment of Utilization and Storage Management Practice of Frozen and Refrigerated Foods in School Foodservice -Focus on Meats, Seafoods and Processed Foods-

학교급식에서의 냉장.냉동 축.수산물 및 가공품 이용현황 및 관리실태 조사

The purpose of this study was to investigate utilization and storage management practice of the frozen and refrigerated foods in school foodservice. 222 dietitians employed in school foodservice were surveyed. In school foodservice, the refrigerated stock farm products and seafoods (78.3%) were more used rather than frozen products (47.5%). According to school foodservice characteristics, the refrigerated meats including dairy products were more frequently used in elementary and middle schools than high school foodservice. On the other hand, the foodservice in high school used more frozen seafoods and processed foods than elementary school did. The data also showed a tendency for the contracted foodservice using more frozen meats and seafoods rather than refrigerated products when comparing with the self-operated foodservice. In terms of receiving conditions, storage methods and storage time, the result indicated that frozen or refrigerated products were often delivered at inappropriate temperature. Especially some products which were needed to be shipped and stored at refrigerated temperature such as mollusks, were delivered and kept at room temperature. The most frequently used thawing method were running water (56.9%), however, the frozen products were often sitted at room temperature for the purpose of thawing. According to the results, several inappropriate handling processes for frozen and refrigerated products were found in school foodservice. In order to improve handling process for frozen and refrigerated products, recognition of food handlers' weakness about storage and distribution, development of radical standards for receiving conditions, storage and thawing methods should be debated.