From next year, the standards of quality for groceries used in school lunches will be drastically strengthened, like using rice which was harvested within a year. In addition, standards for various nutrients will be established for school meals including calories, protein, vitamins, calcium and others, according to the level of growth.

The Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development announced on October 25 that it gave advanced notice of such contents along with enforcement regulations for school meal laws. The ministry also revised the Enforcement Ordinance and will apply those from next semester.

According to the standards for grocery quality, agricultural products must be used at the premium level of standard requirements, which include friendly environmental foodstuff or groceries with good quality. With rice, it is important to use rice harvested less than a year before, so imported rice cannot be on student tables anymore.

Pre-handled agricultural provisions (food items which are pre-treated to cook straight away just after being harvested) are items at the level of over top quality. It should be supplied with labels showing the name of items and business, date of manufacture, and other details.

With stock farm products, beef must be from Korean beef cattle and over the third grade in quality, pork needs to be over C grade, chicken more than first class and eggs more than second place. Marine products are restricted to the above grade in product values.

Recommendations suggested for protein, vitamin C, calcium and other nutrients are noted, with basic calories reaching 534㎉ for male students in first to third grades, 800㎉ for middle school boys and 900㎉ for male high school students per meal, meeting the standards of nutritional management.

입력시간: 2006. 10.26. 09:43