Perception of environment-friendly foods and satisfaction with school meals among students, their parents, and nutrition teachers at elementary schools in the Jindo area, Jeonnam / 한국영양학회지

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the perception of students, their parents, and nutrition teachers regarding environment-friendly foods (EFF) and the satisfaction with school meals at elementary schools. Questionnaires were sent to nutrition teachers at five elementary schools located in the Jindo area, Jeonnam province, and were distributed to students and their parents. A total of 351 questionnaires from students and 334 from parents were collected from March to April, 2013. In addition, 43 nutrition teachers/dietitians working at elementary schools in the Jindo area responded to questionnaires. Nutrition teachers primarily recognized the classification and certification standards of EFF, and verified the certification mark of EFF when they purchased foods. However, 13.4% of students and 38.6% of parents replied as 'know well' regarding the classification and certification standards of EFF and they verified the mark of EFF less often than the nutrition teachers (p < 0.001). Most of the nutrition teachers and parents indicated 'safety' as the main advantage of EFF. The students and parents were satisfied with EFF at home and school meals because of the safety and favorable effect on health. The results showed that EFF compromised 20~40% of monthly food costs for 51.1% of nutrition teachers. The overall score for satisfaction with school meals for students was 3.88 based on a 5-point Likert scale; however, that of the parents was 3.72. The nutrition teachers realized that the parents were more interested in EFF and satisfied with EFF than the students. The major barriers to using EFF in school meals were 'lack of information about EFF' and 'unstable supply.' Therefore, the above results suggested that there should be improvement in the supply of EFF to include more EFF in school meals and efforts should be made to provide students and parents with more information for understanding EFF.