Study on Selection of Representative Menu and Development of Standard Recipes in Middle & High School Meals

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to illustrate standard menu items available in the school foodservice industry, and to establish higher nutritional standards in this industry. We reviewed menu items from 125 middle and high schools from the Seoul area for three months. These menus were then classified into 12 representative menu items, as follows: beef seeweed soup, egg soup, sliced rice rod soup, spaghetti, sauted squid with hot sauce, fish cutlet, simmered pork-egg in soy sauce, sweet and sour meat, sauted pork, acorn starch jelly salad, cucumber salad. And standard recipes of these 12 representative menu items were established, based on a survey from 150 dietitians who completed a questionnaire of 97 questions. According to the survey results, 89% of the dietitians answered positively('yes') about the necessity of establishing standard recipes for the school foodservice industry. 69% of the dietitians were educated standard recipes for the school foodservice, 91% will use standard recipes for the school foodservice Moreover, we discovered there was a consensus on what type of menu items should be included on the menus; demographic factors only affected a small range of recommended items. In order to confirm real application of resulted standard recipe, it is required to conduct quantity food production at real foodservice and study on more suitable standard recipe.