Unappetizing School Meals

Students Dissatisfied with Quality of School Meals

A principal of a high school located in Seoul said, “Although we provide high quality school meals to students, 400 out of 2000 students are bringing their own lunch to school.”

This discontentment suffered by most students can be attributed to the fact that the government has been increasing the number of schools providing school meals with a limited budget.

The introduction of the Commitment School Meal system in 1996 was intended to provide meals to schools without sufficient dining and cooking facilities.

With the fee per one meal only standing at 2000 to 2500 won, most caterers are reluctant to spend more money for ingredients or nutritional value in order to leave more profits.

Kim Jung Myung-shin, representative of an educational civil group, said, “Turning all school meals into a direct system so that the government can directly provide better and cheaper food resources is the best way to go. In the case of hiring a caterer, the school management committee should make a contract with various caterers on the basis of a one year period.”

Questionable Nutritional Value

This unqualified school meal system is endangering the health of young students. Up until late August of this year, a total of 35 cases of food poisoning affected 3625 students, quadrupled from last year’s 9 cases with 806 students affected.

On August 27th and 28th, 154 students who ate in the school dining hall suffered from a severe stomachache and diarrhea. In February of this year, food poisoning occurred during the winter season for the first time in four years.

More problematic is that not one of them has an exact cause or infection channel figured out.

Hiring Caterers More Vulnerable to Danger

Among the poisoning incidents that happened this year, the number of cases caused by caterers is 15 times higher than that of cases by a direct school meal system.

Some 99.3 percent of elementary schools are running their own meal system on their own, but 67.9 percent of junior high schools and 46.9 percent of high schools are doing the same. In particular, 100 percent of junior high schools in Seoul and 96.6 percent of high schools in Seoul are hiring caterers.

A co-representative of School Meal National Network, Bae Ok-byung said, “As long as schools hire caterers, unsanitary conditions will not be eradicated.“

He argues that caterers tend to use cheap and low quality ingredients to reimburse their principal costs during the three year contract period, which could lead to a higher possibility of health problems.

Catering company Araco’s CEO, Jung Soon-suk said, “The government’s rule is that 65 percent of cost should go toward food material expenditure, but this is not possible realistically. So, the government should provide assistance for caterers so that they can improve sanitary conditions and food quality.”

Seong-Chul Hong sungchul@donga.com