Busan Haeundae-gu Children and Social Welfare Meal Management Support Center Wins Grand Prize in MFDS Best Practice Contest

The Haeundae-gu Children and Social Welfare Meal Management Support Center, operated by Dongseo University on a consignment basis, won the Grand Prize at the 5th Children and Social Welfare Meal Support Center Best Practice Contest with its program "Safe Food Purchase and Storage Guidance Education Using VR."

The award-winning program is educational content designed to guide children to independently select and manage healthy and safe foods using VR. It was created to allow participants to enjoyably learn from food purchasing to storage in a virtual reality grocery store and kitchen.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety holds an annual contest and evaluation of excellent meal support cases targeting 236 Children Meal Management Support Centers and 67 Social Welfare Meal Management Support Centers nationwide, awarding outstanding centers.

Officials from the Busan Haeundae-gu Child and Social Welfare Meal Management Support Center are taking a group commemorative photo.

The Haeundae-gu Center opened in 2013 and has been operated by Dongseo University on consignment since 2020. The center provides customized on-site support services such as hygiene and nutrition management, menu and recipe provision, consulting, and dietary education tailored to each target group for children’s meal sites with fewer than 100 people that do not have nutritionists.

Since the second half of 2022, the center has expanded its support to social welfare facilities such as elderly nursing homes, care facilities, and facilities for the disabled by taking on the Busan City Social Welfare Meal Management Support Center project.

Center Director Lee Hyun-sook said, “We are pleased and proud to have received the Busan City Best Center Award in the first half of this year and then the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Grand Prize in the second half. This achievement is thanks to the dedicated efforts of the center staff who worked together to develop excellent educational content.”

She added, “Thanks to the support of the Dongseo University LINC+ Project Group, we were able to develop a technically advanced program. We will continue to protect the meals of children, the elderly, and the disabled safely through specialized educational programs tailored to each target group.”