Busan Office of Education Ensures Meal Quality... Major Improvements in Meal Facilities

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education announced the ‘2023 School and Kindergarten Meal Basic Directions’ on the 1st to provide high-quality and safe school meals, as well as healthy and happy nutrition education.

The basic directions for meals present guidelines on nutrition management, dietary guidance, hygiene and safety management, aiming to supply balanced nutrition for the sound physical and mental development of students.

Every year, the Office of Education revises and supplements the basic directions for meals by reflecting the Ministry of Education’s meal management policies, amendments to related laws, and opinions from school sites. The 2023 basic directions focus on securing meal quality and improving meal facilities.

To ensure meal quality, the Office of Education will promote ▲clarification of quality management standards for food ingredients ▲support for eco-friendly excellent agricultural products food expenses in kindergartens ▲support for itinerant nutrition teachers for small-scale private kindergartens ▲restrictions on the use of meal operation expenses.

When using pre-processed seafood, the quality management standards have been clarified to require not only frozen products but also refrigerated products to be processed and handled in HACCP-certified facilities. Additionally, the support for eco-friendly excellent agricultural products food expenses, previously provided only to elementary schools, has been expanded to kindergartens to ensure the use of safe and excellent food ingredients.

Itinerant nutrition teachers are assigned one per education support office and provide monthly visits to small-scale private kindergartens offering ▲recommended menus ▲nutrition and hygiene management consulting ▲nutrition class support ▲nutrition counseling to actively support meal quality improvement and healthy growth of young children.

Busan Office of Education.

For schools, the use of meal operation expenses has been restricted to food costs, labor costs (basic salary), and fuel costs only.

Costs such as food waste disposal fees and water and sewage charges are restricted from being paid from meal operation expenses. If meal operation expenses are insufficient, schools are to cover these costs from school operating expenses to maximize food costs.

Meal facility improvements include support for purchasing electric and automated meal equipment, promotion of meal facility modernization projects to improve ventilation facilities, and support for purchasing meal equipment for private kindergartens, all related to reducing workload and improving working conditions for meal workers.

Additionally, to resolve difficulties in the field during meal facility improvements, the Office presented ▲standard meal facility blueprints (draft) considering cooking flow ▲design directions for facilities by work zones in meal rooms.

Kim Beom-gyu, Director of the Life Sports and Health Division at the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education, said, “Our Office of Education will do its best to provide systematic meal management and safe, high-quality meals by actively communicating with the educational field based on the basic directions for meals.”