Perception of Use of Environment-friendly Agricultural Products during School Foodservice of Mothers of Elementary School Students in Gyeonggi

An, Young Un; Kim, Myung Hee; Choi, Mi Kyeong; Kim, Mi Hyun

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study was to investigate the perception of mothers of elementary school students regarding environment-friendly agricultural products in school foodservice.
METHODS
A total of 282 mothers whose children were receiving environment-friendly agricultural products during elementary school foodservice in Gyeonggi participated in this questionnaire survey. The survey was conducted to investigate respondents perception and satisfaction with environment-friendly agricultural products in their children's school meals from May 29 to June 9, 2017.
RESULTS
About 79% of the subjects were satisfied with school foodservice. The most important aspects of school foodservice were nutrition (35.8%) and sanitation (34.8%). Over 80% of the subjects were aware of environment-friendly agricultural products and about 54% of the subjects checked for a certification mark when purchasing environment-friendly agricultural products. Additionally, 72.3% of the subjects knew that environment-friendly agricultural products were used at school. The advantages of using environment-friendly agricultural products in school foodservice were safety (75.5%) and high food quality (16.3%). About 66% of the mothers knew the school was receiving support from the city or education office for using environment-friendly agricultural products. Additionally, 74.5% of the mothers responded that they are willing to pay for use of environment-friendly agricultural products when subsidies were not supported.
CONCLUSIONS
The positive perception and high support for use of environment-friendly agricultural products in school foodservice among elementary students' mothers can be used as basic data for expansion of the use of environment-friendly agricultural products in school foodservice.