ABSTRACT
This study was conducted to determine parents' recognition of the Center for children's foodservice management (CCFSM) and to compare preschoolers' satisfaction for meals served by childcare centers and some aspects regarding the vegetable intake according to the parents' recognition of CCFSM. The subjects were 255 parents, whose children were 2~5 year old and attended a childcare center, were grouped according to the recognition of CCFSM (high recognition, HR, 27.5%; medium recognition, MR, 47.4%; low recognition, LR, 25.1%). Information was obtained by a self-administered questionnaire and data were analyzed by SPSS 25.0. Only 58.6% of HR and 10.7% of MR answered the they had participated education/event held by the CCFSM. More parents in the HR group (88.6%) acknowledged the helpfulness of CCFSM on the children's food habits compared to those in the MR group (63.6%) (P<0.001). Compared to the MR and LR groups, more parents in the HR group answered not only that they were ‘satisfied’/‘very satisfied’ with the meals served by childcare centers (P<0.05), but also they tended to think that their children were also satisfied (P=0.061). Up to 31.2% of parents in the LR group answered that there was no need for education to increase the vegetable intake of their child compared to 14.3% and 17.4% in the HR and MR groups, respectively (P<0.05). Moreover, up to 26.6% of parents answered that school cook planned menus compared to 5.7% and 13.2% in the HR and MR group, respectively (P<0.001). In conclusion, the results provided the association between parents' high recognition of CCFSM and preschoolers' satisfaction for meals from childcare centers as well as a better chance for a desirable food life regarding vegetable intake.