Imsil-gun Puts 'All Effort' into School Meals Including Free Dairy Products

Visit to Meal Supply Company for Local School Officials
Nationwide 'First' Dairy Product Provision... High Satisfaction Leads to Expansion Plans

Imsil-gun, Jeonbuk, has become the first in the nation this year to provide cheese dairy products in school meals, garnering high satisfaction from students and parents. Amid this, the county is promoting tours of school meal supply companies for kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools within the area to further enhance trust in public meals.

According to the county on the 21st, a tour event of meal supply companies was held over two days on the 16th and 18th, targeting 42 school officials including principals and vice principals of kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools in the area.

On the 18th, Imsil-gun, Jeonbuk, held a field trip event for 42 officials from kindergartens and elementary, middle, and high schools in the area to visit meal supply companies.
[Photo provided by Imsil-gun]

This tour was the first since the establishment of the Imsil Food Integrated Support Center, visiting not only the Food Integrated Support Center but also Imsil Gochu & Agricultural Products Processing and Sales Co., Ltd. and Chinhan F&B Co., Ltd. The tour carefully explained the procedures for delivering school meal ingredients and allowed participants to directly observe storage and hygiene conditions, raising interest in the ingredients consumed by students in school meals.

A school official who attended the tour said, "Since the establishment of the Imsil Food Integrated Support Center, the supply of school meal ingredients has been smooth, enabling stable meal provision to students. Coming here to listen to explanations and see things firsthand increased our trust and gave us peace of mind."

Meanwhile, the local dairy product support project for schools, first implemented nationwide in March this year, showed very high satisfaction among schools, students, parents, and nutrition teachers as it provided high-quality Imsil dairy products in school meals.

Accordingly, the county signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Imsil Cheese Cooperative and the Imsil Office of Education for the "Free Support of Local Dairy Products in School Meals." Various dairy products such as pouch yogurt, string cheese, and cheese sticks are provided twice a week at a cost of under 3,000 KRW to about 1,500 students attending 36 kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools in the area.

Additionally, a milk voucher project is being promoted to support children and adolescents from socially disadvantaged groups and multi-child families in purchasing milk and dairy products within a monthly limit of 15,000 KRW. The free dairy meal project holds special significance as it cares for the health of the future generation in the region amid serious population decline, representing a long-term investment targeting future consumers. Furthermore, it greatly contributes to the development of the Imsil dairy processing industry and revitalization of the local economy by opening sales channels and securing stable distribution networks for local dairy farmers.

The county judges this as a highly effective administrative policy with positive responses from students and parents, helping local students focus healthily on their studies. From next year, they plan to increase the frequency of provision and expand to schools in other regions, exploring various measures.

Sim Min, the governor of Imsil-gun, said, "We will do our best to provide fresh local agricultural products to growing students and foster a proper awareness of food. Since dairy product meals are a good policy, we will seek ways to expand it to schools in other regions."

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