• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.196-207
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• 2020

This study was undertaken to provide basic data for revitalizing the school meal support centers and improving school meals, by analyzing the purchase conditions and satisfaction of food according to an adoption of a school meal service support center. Comparing the purchasing efficiency, convenience to purchase, and higher overall satisfaction was achieved when a school meal service support center was adopted by the local government, as compared to non-adopted school meal service support centers. Therefore, it is considered that the adaption of a school meal service support center is urgently required by non-adoption local governments. Moreover, the stability of food material supplies was also higher in the adopted rather than the non-adopted centers. Satisfaction with the quality of food ingredients was also found to be significantly higher in the adopted centers. These results indicate that if the local government adopts and introduces the school meal support center, inconsistencies observed in the return and exchange processes experienced by the non-adopted centers can be resolved, and food quality satisfaction can be improved. We, therefore, propose the necessity to implement a system for determining reasonable pricing by establishing systematic cooperation among schools, manufacturing entities (suppliers), and the School Meal Service Support Center.

• 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 the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.467-478
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• 1995

The school food service system has been an important national policy in Korea. To find out the reference data of the school food service system, we surveyed four primary schools, one middle school, and one food service center in Nara, Japan. The results are as follows; 1. The school food service was carried out in 99.4% of primary school children and in 82.5% of middle school students. 2. The central commissary school food service system was utilized at 49.0% of primary schools and 68.5% of middle schools. 3. The expense of the system is supported partially by the student's parents and partially by the government, of which the support rate was noticed by the law of school food service. 4. The dietary content of school food service was laid down by 'The rule of the operation basis of school food service'. The menu was chosen by the 7 kinds of stepwise meetings. 5. The teachers emphasized on the food etiquette, the appreciation to the food and the personal relationship during meal, as well as on the nutritional balance. 6. We found other problems in Japanese food service system, such as the sanitary problems, the problems of the new tableware, and whether the central kitchen had less advantage than the individual school kitchen. We can conclude that the school food service system is becoming the essential part in school education, and hope to design not only economical but also educational system in Korea, with the consideration of Japanese system.