Completion of Side Dish Factory to Support 'Hyo-do Bapsang' on the 7th
Facility Equipped to Prepare 2,000 Meals Per Day
Mapo-gu (Mayor Park Gang-su) completed the construction of the '2nd Side Dish Factory,' which began in the second half of last year to expand the 'Hyo-do Bapsang' project, and held a completion ceremony on the 7th.
'Hyo-do Bapsang' is Mapo-gu's representative senior welfare project that protects the health and safety of local seniors aged 75 and older by providing lunch, checking on their well-being, and monitoring their health to prevent isolation.
Starting in April 2023 with seven meal service institutions and about 160 elderly living alone, 'Hyo-do Bapsang' now provides lunch to over 1,800 seniors at 51 meal service institutions.
Furthermore, the plan is to expand to 100 meal service institutions and increase the number of seniors served to 4,000 by the end of this year.
The district opened the '1st Side Dish Factory' in April 2024 and completed the '2nd Side Dish Factory' in less than a year.
At the 'Side Dish Factories,' food is prepared on a large scale and delivered and supplied to the 'Hyo-do Bapsang' meal service institutions.
Initially, the project operated on-site meal service by recruiting meal institutions such as regular restaurants and providing meal subsidies based on the number of users. However, with the completion of the '1st Side Dish Factory' in April 2024, the system improved to a hub-type mobile meal service, delivering food prepared at the factory to meal institutions such as senior centers.
The newly completed '2nd Side Dish Factory' has a dedicated area of 250.19㎡ and includes a 'Food Ingredient Warehouse' for storing incoming ingredients and a 'Pre-processing Room' for cleaning ingredients thoroughly.
It is also equipped with a 'Cooking Room' and a 'Packaging and Washing Room' for food packaging and dishwashing, capable of preparing 2,000 meals per day.
Along with mass production of side dishes, it is expected to significantly reduce costs and enable the distribution of fresh and healthy side dishes evenly.
With the completion of the '2nd Side Dish Factory,' together with the '1st Side Dish Factory,' cooked food can be delivered and supplied more quickly to each meal institution, allowing more seniors to be served.
Mayor Park Gang-su said, "Hyo-do Bapsang is more than just a warm meal for seniors; it is a channel for care and communication and a strong support system. We will do our best to enable more seniors to dine through resident-participation Hyo-do Bapsang."
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