"Food Waste Odor Overwhelms, Students Refuse School Meals... School Remains Indifferent"

A high school in Hwasun, Jeollanam-do, is struggling to properly manage food waste.

According to the Hwasun Office of Education on the 26th, Hwasun A High School is facing a red alert on meal hygiene due to severe odors caused by food waste generated in the cafeteria and dormitory.

The school cafeteria scene that became controversial due to the severe foul odor of food waste

Students at the school are having difficulty even eating meals because of the food waste odor, but the school has been criticized for doing nothing for almost three months.

Since early March, some students have refused to eat meals due to the food waste odor, leading to numerous complaints from students and parents.

Despite this, the school has only repeated that it will "take prompt action," ignoring the demands of students and parents, putting the cafeteria hygiene and students' health at great risk.

The school stated that the odor was caused by gas generated during the fermentation process of food leftovers escaping through the dormitory chimney, and plans to resolve the issue by carrying out chimney construction.

A school official said, "The odor issue has already been reported to the Hwasun Office of Education, and we are working to resolve the problem," adding, "After the Office of Education's meal service officer visited with a contractor and inspected the site, it was confirmed that there is no problem with the food waste processor. We cleaned the drainage and rainwater channels and plan to carry out chimney construction on the 30th."

In response, a parent pointed out, "The food waste odor has been occurring since early March, and we have raised the issue several times. If the school had the will, the problem could have been solved, but it has been continuously delayed."

Despite the situation, the school reported the meal issue to the Office of Education belatedly, and it was confirmed that the Office conducted an inspection earlier this month.

An official from the Office of Education stated, "Upon inspection, it was confirmed that food waste was accumulating in the sewage space coming from the school dormitory. We have cleaned the drainage channels and plan to clean the sewage channels soon," adding, "We judged that the smell was coming from a low chimney, so we plan to raise the chimney to more than twice its height and proceed with construction."

He continued, "We will visit the school again with the facility manager on the 30th to inspect," and added, "We will resolve the issue as soon as possible."