Starting Next Year, Soldiers Will Eat Commercially Sold Hamburgers

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Starting next year, hamburgers sold in the market will be provided to military personnel. Additionally, about 20 new menu items preferred by soldiers, such as Dakgangjeong (sweet crispy fried chicken) and Galbi Mandu (rib dumplings), will be newly added.

According to the Ministry of National Defense on the 29th, the '2021 Meal Policy' was established, focusing on introducing new items and improving meal operation methods to enhance the taste and quality of soldiers' meals.

According to the meal policy, starting next year, among the hamburger menus currently provided six times a month as military meals, one meal will be a market hamburger set with guaranteed taste and quality.

Hamburger suppliers will not be uniformly designated; instead, each unit will directly purchase from nearby vendors. The Ministry of National Defense expects this to improve soldiers' satisfaction while also benefiting the local commercial districts where the units are stationed.

A total of 24 new meal items will be added in the new year. These were selected mainly based on items that received positive feedback from soldiers during tasting sessions and trial meals conducted this year.

Processed foods include representative items such as Dakgangjeong, hamburger steak, braised pork ribs, Galbi Mandu and Kimchi Mandu, and Donggeurangttaeng (Korean-style meat patties).

Regardless of the cooking skills of the cooks, various seasonings, sauces, and retort soups and stews were also selected as new items to ensure a consistent taste above a certain standard. Agricultural and marine ingredients such as salmon, mullet, anglerfish, and celery will also be added.

In addition, the Ministry of National Defense decided to expand choices by selecting dumplings, which young soldiers like, as items subject to the 'Multiple Supplier Contract System.'

This system allows units to select desired products from multiple registered suppliers on the Public Procurement Service shopping mall. A representative example is ramen; since its application in 2018, units have been able to choose from about 50 types of ramen from four companies, compared to only one company’s product previously.

Going forward, dumplings will also be registered on the Public Procurement Service shopping mall with various types such as Galbi Mandu, Kimchi Mandu, and meat dumplings, allowing units to purchase according to their preference. Additionally, soy milk will be introduced as a regular meal item 12 times a year.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense will also pilot supply of lactose-free milk (milk with reduced lactose content) for soldiers who have difficulty digesting so-called 'white milk.' A pilot unit will be selected to supply lactose-free milk at about 5% of the white milk supply volume, with plans to gradually expand the target units depending on the results.

The Ministry of National Defense set the basic daily meal cost per person for next year at 8,790 won, a 3.5% increase from this year, and plans to spend about 1.6 trillion won annually on military meals.

A Ministry of National Defense official said, "We will continue to do our best to improve soldiers’ meal satisfaction through the introduction of various meal items and improvement of meal operation systems, while ensuring nutritionally balanced meals to promote soldiers’ healthy eating habits and enhance combat readiness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.