ABSTRACT
Objectives@#The purpose was to identify the ingredients that are usually surveyed for assessing real prices and to present the demand for such surveys by nutrition teachers and dietitians for ingredients used by school foodservice. @*Methods@#A survey was conducted online from December 2019 to January 2020. The survey questionnaire was distributed to 1,158 nutrition teachers and dietitians from elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide, and 439 (37.9% return rate) of the 1,158 were collected and used for data analysis. @*Results@#The ingredients which were investigated for price realities directly by schools were industrial products in 228 schools (51.8%), fruits in 169 schools (38.4%), and specialty crops in 166 schools (37.7%). Moreover, nutrition teachers and dietitians in elementary, middle, and high schools searched in different ways for the real prices of ingredients. In elementary schools, there was a high demand for price information about grains, vegetables or root and tuber crops, special crops, fruits, eggs, fishes, and organic and locally grown ingredients by the School Foodservice Support Centers. Real price information about meats, industrial products, and pickled processed products were sought from the external specialized institutions. In addition, nutrition teachers and dietitians in middle and high schools wanted to obtain prices of all of the ingredients from the Offices of Education or the District Office of Education. @*Conclusions@#Schools want to efficiently use the time or money spent on research for the real prices of ingredients through reputable organizations or to co-work with other nutrition teachers and dietitians. The results of this study will be useful in understanding the current status of the surveys carried out to determine the real price information for ingredients used by the school foodservice.
ABSTRACT
Objectives@#The purpose was to identify the ingredients that are usually surveyed for assessing real prices and to present the demand for such surveys by nutrition teachers and dietitians for ingredients used by school foodservice. @*Methods@#A survey was conducted online from December 2019 to January 2020. The survey questionnaire was distributed to 1,158 nutrition teachers and dietitians from elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide, and 439 (37.9% return rate) of the 1,158 were collected and used for data analysis. @*Results@#The ingredients which were investigated for price realities directly by schools were industrial products in 228 schools (51.8%), fruits in 169 schools (38.4%), and specialty crops in 166 schools (37.7%). Moreover, nutrition teachers and dietitians in elementary, middle, and high schools searched in different ways for the real prices of ingredients. In elementary schools, there was a high demand for price information about grains, vegetables or root and tuber crops, special crops, fruits, eggs, fishes, and organic and locally grown ingredients by the School Foodservice Support Centers. Real price information about meats, industrial products, and pickled processed products were sought from the external specialized institutions. In addition, nutrition teachers and dietitians in middle and high schools wanted to obtain prices of all of the ingredients from the Offices of Education or the District Office of Education. @*Conclusions@#Schools want to efficiently use the time or money spent on research for the real prices of ingredients through reputable organizations or to co-work with other nutrition teachers and dietitians. The results of this study will be useful in understanding the current status of the surveys carried out to determine the real price information for ingredients used by the school foodservice.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#The purposes of this study were to understand the health interest of consumers in the United States and Japan and thus understand the motivation of food choices, in order to provide basic data on the country's strategy based on healthy and correct food choices in the future. @*Methods@#A customer survey was conducted in 2019 from October 18 to 31, and it targeted 115 American and 120 Japanese local consumers between the ages of 20- to 64-years-old. Eight questions were formed using General Health Interest. Based on food choice motivation, 27 questions were reconstructed and asked about demographic information. All data were analyzed by SPSS Statistics (ver. 25). @*Results@#Health consciousness was categorized into 2 types: nutrition-seeking type and preference-seeking type. Based on these 2 factors, customers were grouped into 3 clusters:healthy dietary life-seeking group, nutrition balance-seeking group and health indifference group. Food choice motivation was categorized into 4 types: health, efficiency, value, and mood. All 3 groups showed a high tendency for efficiency in common. The results show that consumers want higher satisfaction with their time and money invested in food consumption. It is believed that the focus and investment of market segmentation strategy should be focused on product development, especially for American and Japanese consumers who are interested in health. @*Conclusion@#The results of this study reflect consumer needs that can assist in the selection of healthy and correct foods in the future.
