Dieticians' Perception of Nutrient Preservation Management Practices during Meal Production by School Food Service in Daegu Area

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore nutrition teachers/dietitians' perception towards production management practices as well as the importance & performance of nutrient preservation during production by school foodservices. A total of 120 school nutrition teachers/dietitians in the Daegu area participated in this study. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, t-test, and ANOVA using SPSS/Windows (ver 17.0). A questionnaire consisted of three dimensions with 66 items concerning the general characteristics of schools and respondents, production management practices, and perceived importance and performance of nutrient preservation. Exactly 79.2& of dietitians responded that scheduling of production management is necessary, and 52.5% of respondents perceived that their knowledge for nutrient preservation is of normal/average level. Thirty-eight percent of respondents did not establish scheduling of production management; according to them, cooking stage has priority over other stages of nutrient preservation. Perceived importance score was higher than perceived performance score in all stages of production management. The difference between perceived importance and performance in the production scheduling stage was found to be statistically significant. The results indicate that nutrition control point should be established and managed to prevent nutrient loss in all production stages. Further, dietitians who do not take measures to reduce nutrient loss should be carefully educated on the importance of nutrient control and be motivated to follow guidelines on nutrient preservation.