Use of Salimeters and Sodium Reduction Education in School Foodservice in the Gyeonggi Area

Abstract

This study used survey data to identify the use of salimeters and the prevalence of sodium reduction education in the Gyeonggi region. A survey with 211 dietitians working in school foodservice (106 in elementary schools, 69 in middle schools, and 36 in high schools) was conducted from August 6 to August 17, 2012. The data were analyzed using the SPSS program. Though 86.6% of school kitchens had salimeters, the rate for checking the sodium content of soup or stew was just 62.7% and the rate for checking the sodium content of kimchi and solid food was very low. Since salimeters are mostly used to measure sodium in liquid foods, it is urgent to provide an education and manual on using salimeters and to promote salimetry for kimchi and side dishes. It is also important to provide students with nutritional information by clearly posting the sodium content of food on menus and compelling students to notice them. Sodium reduction education for cooks was conducted in the 70.3% of the kitchens; however, the dietitians perceived that the cooks did not understand the importance of the education. Also, sodium reduction education for students was mostly provided through indirect methods, rather than face-to-face education, resulting in poor educational data (only 36.4% comprehending). By providing detailed guidelines for sodium reduction and labelling accurate content of sodium of the menus, we will be able to enforce practices for sodium reduction in school lunches.

Towards a sustainable agri-food ecosystem: the case study of South Korean public food procurement

“…A public meal center facilitated the transformation of arms-length relations between kitchens and distributors into in-house partnerships with farmers. Our study further extends the agricultural cooperatives literature and contributes to a better understanding of the role of a municipality and an agri-food intermediary in the governance process involving producers and kitchens (Lee et al ., 2020; Ma et al ., 2022, 2023). Considering to the institutional context on PFP, still more research is needed to fully uncover different roles and governance structures in agrifood ecosystems.…”

“…Studies emphasize the important role played by regional municipalities in designing and implementing agri-food initiatives (Renting and Wiskerke, 2010), but we still know very little about the coordination links of PFP across different levels of a local institution, municipality, or government (Otsuki, 2014). In the comparative case study of Korean school meal support centers, municipalities that have operated the meal centers denoted a significant level of satisfaction with the procurement process and food quality (Lee et al ., 2020; Chung, 2021; Lim and Yang, 2013). Gaddis and Jeon (2022) identify the notion of “precautionary infrastructure” to explain new supply systems to ensure a stable channel for sustainable farms.…”

“…Informed by research in agricultural cooperatives and farmer organizations (Lee et al ., 2020; Ma et al ., 2022; Bizikova et al ., 2020) we investigate our case through an ecosystem lens, where ecosystem actors (predominantly small-scale, local farmers) offer their supply of local agri-food to public food kitchens. Acting as a collective, the latter can develop a superior value proposition to that which each would be able to offer alone.…”

Perceptions and Feasibility of Actions Related to Sodium Reduction among Restaurant Owners and Cooks in Seongnam, South Korea: Comparison According to Stages of Behavioral Change

“…A self-administered questionnaire was developed, with modifications, from those used in previous studies [21][22][23]. The questionnaire consisted of three sections: general information on participants and the restaurants in which they worked, questions for classifying the stages of behavioral change, and practices and perceptive factors related to reducing sodium in restaurant foods.…”

Importance-performance analysis of sodium reduction practices by school nutrition teachers and dietitians in the Republic of Korea

“…To reduce sodium, the practices of seasoning soup or stew at the end of cooking or blanching processed meat products such as ham to remove excessive sodium have been implemented [ 17 ]. Nearly two-thirds (62.7%) of school nutrition teachers and dietitians in Gyeonggi-do used a salt meter to check the sodium content of soups and stews [ 18 ], and 77.4% of schools in the Daegu area served low-sodium meals [ 19 ]. Although nutrition teachers and dietitians perceived the importance of reducing the sodium content in school meals [ 20 21 ], the actual on-site practice of sodium reduction was, nonetheless, not satisfactory.…”