• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.355-366
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• 2018

The aim of this study is to investigate the awareness and satisfaction level of school meal services by elementary school students and their parents. Approximately 97.2% of student-subjects have agreed on the necessity of a free meal service for school lunch; 44.3% of student-subjects voiced the need to provide free meal services in order to eliminate discrimination of low-income students. Over one-third of student-subjects (36.7%) cited nutrition as the main benefit of providing a free meal service. The majority of parent-subjects (95.1%) have recognized the need for a free meal service in school; approximately 37.3% of parent-subjects responded to need the free meal service in order to eliminate the discrimination of impoverished students. Both student- and parent-subjects expressed a high level of satisfaction with the quality of ingredients and the type of soup/nutrition provided. Student-subjects insisted on better food hygiene and a new menu, but cited the noisy cafeteria as a problem associated with school meal services. In addition, approximately 56.5% of student-subjects responded to the need for nutritional education in school. Parent-subjects were primarily concerned with hygiene regarding the preparation of school meal services, noting the temperature of foods as the biggest problem in school meal services. The majority of parent-subjects (88.1%) responded to the need for the nutritional education in school. Results of this survey indicate that school meal services can be improved by increasing menu options and increasing food hygiene.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.335-349
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• 2015

The system of School Meal Service Support Centers was established to support the supply of high-quality food ingredients for school meal services when the School Meal Service Act was amended in 2006. A case study was conducted to examine the operating effects, success factors, and major obstacles of a School Meal Service Support Center which was highly evaluated for its operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Qualitative data were collected from eight stakeholders (two individuals each from the center, farms, schools, and distributors) through in-depth interviews in July 2013 and analyzed by using the thematic analysis method. The successful operation of the center helped to stabilize income and price among the stakeholders, increase ingredient quality, increase school meal reliability, reduce costs, and promote the consumption of agricultural products. Success factors were identified as the center director's commitment and insights, and the competitive operating system including fair operations, rational pricing, liberal consumer choice, total quality management, and partnerships with distributors. Major obstacles included a lack of diversity in supplied ingredients and a lack of administrative and financial support form the local government. The results can be used as baseline information to vitalize the system of School Meal Service Support Centers and increase the quality of school meal services.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.233-246
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• 2014

This study investigates the level of satisfaction with quality attributes of meal services for low-income children in Wonju, Korea. Based on interviews with 287 subjects (users of meal boxes: 17.4%, card users: 82.6%; boys: 48.4%, girls: 51.6%; elementary school students: 44.4%, middle school students: 33.0%, high school students: 22.6%; two parents household: 29.8%, single- or no- parent household: 70.2%) through consent from their guardians, some key characteristics of the subjects and the relationships between their characteristics and the level of their satisfaction with meal services were examined. According to the results, the level of satisfaction ranged from 54.7% to 66.0% (those respondents indicating "very good" and "good") indicated that the meals were generally acceptable. The highest level of satisfaction was for sanitation (66.0%), followed by taste (64.0%), ease of choosing preferred menu items (61.9%), a proper temperature (61.9%), a sufficient amount (60.8%), diversity (56.3%), the comfortableness of the dining area (54.7%), and sufficient nutrition (41.0%). For these eight quality aspects of meal services, users of meal boxes were more likely to be satisfied with the comfortableness of the dining area, whereas card users, with the taste and temperature of the food. The type of meal service, the attitudes toward talking to friends about supporting meals, and subjectively perceived health status had significant effects on the level of satisfaction with meal services.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.528-535
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• 2003

The purposes of this study were: 1) to investigate the operational and financial characteristics of contract-managed high school food services in Seoul, 2) to analyze the financial performance of high school food services 3) to develop guidelines for meal pricing and facilities investment costs. From Oct to Nov 2001, questionnaires were mailed to 249 high schools that were managed by contract food service companies. A 40.2％ response rate was recorded. The results of this study were as follows: 1. Student enrollment in high schools run by contract-managed food services was 1,518, with a 68.5％ participation rate in the school lunch program. The average meal price was 2,141 won. 2. Based on the income statement analysis, average total sales were 410,440,504 won and average net profit was 16,098,558 won. 3. The optimum food cost per meal was 1,200-1,300 won per meal, calculating using the methods of conversion factor, RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance), and nutrient exchange unit. 4. Guidelines for meal pricing were developed using the modified actual pricing method based on facilities investment cost, number of meals and food cost. The ratio of labor cost, general management expenses and ordinary profit were adopted from the schools with liability. The food cost, depreciation and interest cost were calculated based on unit meal. 5. The guideline for facilities investment was developed based on the number of meals, meal price and food cost. The guideline included the maximum facilities investment cost paid by the contract food service management company. (Korean J Nutrition 36(5): 528∼535, 2003)

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.459-467
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to suggest the strategies for improvement of home-delivered meal services for the elderly, to identify reasons for recipients to get started with the services and to evaluate the attitude, acceptability and adaptation of recipients to the services from the perspective of life context. Methods: The data was collected through face-to-face in-depth interviews with eighteen low-income elderly recipients of home-delivered meals and analyzed using a qualitative research method. Results: The results were deduced as four themes which comprised of long-term vulnerable socioeconomic contexts resulted in entry to the services, conflicting acceptability to the services, passive adaptation to taking the services, and positive practices to cope with supplement free meals or other services. The service participation was initiated because of a combination of prolonged, vulnerable socioeconomic contexts, including poverty and unexpected life events such as diseases, disability, living alone, aging and unemployment. With regard to taking the services, conflicting acceptability was observed: positive aspects including saving living cost and good quality of meals, and negative aspects including lack of a tailored service and feeling of stigma. Although the recipients needed an individualized service, they did not express their needs and demands for the services and they accepted the unavailability as an accustomed, prolonged vulnerable socioeconomic context. With regard to lack of tailored services, either self-solution such as modification of eating patterns or community-based network and services were used. Conclusions: We suggest that a system to concretely identify recipients' attitude, acceptability and adaptation for home-delivered meal services should be developed in the establishment of a tailored nutrition support system for the low-income elderly.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.45-57
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• 2022

This study aimed to evaluate the perception of nutrition teachers about emergency meals in all schools affiliated with the Seoul Office of Education. The purpose of this study was to suggest the need for emergency meals and provide directions for future development, thereby assisting meal service sites. An online survey was conducted from May 26 to 31, 2021, analyzing 130 collected samples. The summary of the results is as follows: First, the nutrition teachers recognized the need for school meal services for the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases and considered the variance among school meal consumers. Also, they generally thought of emergency meals due to the need for social distancing and the decrease in the distribution of food. Secondly, in terms of the differences in the perception about emergency meals, nutrition teachers (45.4%) who have provided emergency meals (t=2.584, P<0.05) were more aware of the need for emergency meals than nutrition teachers (54.6%) who had not provided emergency meals. Nutrition teachers conceived emergency meals to minimize the contact between people (45.6%) and to rectify the imbalance in nutrition (37.5). Next, emergency meal attributes were observed to be ranked in the order of convenience (3.49), safety (3.15), and satisfaction (2.88). Fourthly, although there were no meaningful differences in emergency meal attributes, there were statistically significant differences in the safety of the cooking process, menu familiarity, the low unit price compared to regular meals and the excellent satisfaction with nutrition provided (t=2.603, P<0.05), (t=2.039, P<0.05), (t=2.154, P<0.05), (t=2.477, P<0.05) respectively.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.158-168
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• 2014

Objectives: To identify and evaluate the trend of meal-skipping rates among Korean adolescents with their contributing causes and the influence of household income level on meal skipping. Methods: Using 2008, 2010, and 2012 data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey of 222 662 students, a cross-sectional study with subgroup analysis was performed. We calculated odds ratios for skipping each meal 5 or more times in a week by household socio-economic status using a multiple logistic regression model. The secular change in the meal-skipping rates by the students' family affluence scale was analyzed by comparing the meal-skipping students within each subgroup and odds ratios for the same event over time. Results: Through 2008 to 2012, most of the meal-skipping rates generally showed a continuous increase or were almost unchanged in both sexes, except for breakfast skipping in several subgroups. Students in low-income households not living with both parents had the highest meal-skipping rates and odds ratios for frequent meal skipping. In a time-series subgroup analysis, the overall odds ratios for the same event increased during 2008 to 2012, with a slight reduction in the gap between low and higher income levels with regard to meal skipping during 2010 to 2012. Conclusions: Household socio-economic status and several other factors had a significant influence on Korean adolescent meal-skipping rates. Although the gap in eating behavior associated with household socio-economic differences is currently decreasing, further study and appropriate interventions are needed.

• The Korean Journal of Community Living Science
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.683-696
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• 2015

This study measures patients' meal satisfaction according to the type of operation (self-operation and contract operation) and identifies improvement areas. A survey was conducted using 183 contract operation patients and 60 self-operation patients receiving general meals. The mean score for satisfaction for the whole sample was 3.42 (self-operation = 3.51; contract operation = 3.39), and self-operation satisfaction was significantly higher than contract operation satisfaction. Mean scores were 2.98 for food, 3.26 for menu composition, 3.57 for sanitation, 3.78 for distribution meal services, and 3.50 for menu information. Self-operation showed a higher satisfaction level than the contract operation in food and menu composition. The ccontract operation showed a higher level of satisfaction than self-operation in sanitation, distribution meal services, and menu information. In terms of feeling dissatisfaction with meal services, both groups showed the highest dissatisfaction with food and menus, and both groups agreed on food and menus that required the greatest improvement. Based on the results, contract operation managers should develop and apply menus considering their preferences. Dietitians of self-operation strengthen communication between meal service staff and patients by carrying out periodic and systematic service education on self-operation.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.194-204
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate school dietitians' satisfaction with and needs for School Meal Service Support Centers. A web-based on-line survey was conducted with 1,102 nutrition teachers or school dietitians using four School Meal Service Support Centers during the summer of 2011. The data from 578 respondents (52.5%), consisting of 165 (44.4%), 334 (53.4%), 41 (67.2%), and 38 (86.4%) dietitians using Seoul, Gyeonggi, Suncheon and Gyeongju centers, respectively, were analyzed. The main reason for using the centers was subsidies from local governments. The dietitians using the metropolitan centers, which were Seoul and Gyeonggi centers, tended to buy agricultural products through the centers only, and those using local centers, which were Suncehon and Gyeongju centers, bought those products from the private suppliers as well as from the centers. The dietitians' overall level of satisfaction with the centers was not high showing 3.3 out of 5 points; it was significantly associated with the operating system and services of the centers such as system efficiency, delivery accuracy, communication, and information provision rather than the agricultural products provided by the centers. The dietitians preferred joint operation of the centers by local governments and producers' groups. They wanted School Meal Service Support Centers to be evaluated every year. It was suggested that efforts should be made to improve the operation system and service of School Meal Service Support Centers for improving dietitians' satisfaction with the centers. In addition, an evaluation system for School Meal Service Support Centers should be implemented soon based on school dietitians' needs.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.113-121
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate satisfaction with and perception of the school meal service according to middle school students and dieticians/dietetic teachers in Gwangju area who experienced change to the free meal service and the main contents were as follows. Methods: The research subjects were 197 students (99 boys and 98 girls) and 42 dieticians/dietetic teachers were recruited. Results: Compared to the free meal service before, satisfaction of students was high (53.8%), and 69.9% of students said there was no change in the school meals, however a significant difference was observed between gender. Overall 80.2% of middle school students said that there was no change in menu, 70.6% were no change in the frequency of food with high preference, and 64.0% were no change in leftover of meals. 85.7% of dieticians/dietetic teachers said that there was no change in the student's satisfaction according to the conversion of free meal services; 59.5% of dieticians/dietetic teachers said that there was no change in the frequency of foods with high preference, the variety of vegetables was increased in the qualitative change item of food materials, and 95% of them were not aware of change in the amount of students' leftover foods. Dieticians/dietetic teachers had limitations in selecting menus with purchase and costs of food materials (26.2%) by conversion of the free meal service and their priority considered was the food cost (45.2%) when they selected menus. Change in feeding affairs was office work management (26.2%) and recipe research and development (19.0%). Conclusion: With the results of this study, the satisfaction with the school meal service was not changed in the awareness of students and dieticians/dietetic teachers. Therefore further study is needed to determine the middle school's satisfaction with school meals based on a variety of factors including the environmental food meal services.