Goyang City to Strengthen 'Safe and Eco-Friendly' School Meals Next Year: "Meal Costs Unchanged, Quality Enhanced"

Goyang City to Invest Total 120.3 Billion Won Next Year
Continued Meal Support for 105,000 Students
Maximizing Efficiency Through Joint Provincial and City Funding
City: "Claims of Abandoning School Meal Project Are Unfounded"

Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Donghwan) will steadily implement its school meal support project for 2026 to promote students’ healthy growth and create a safe food environment.

Panoramic view of Goyang Special City Hall. Provided by Goyang Special City.

The city plans to establish a comprehensive support system-including subsidies for school meal expenses, supply of eco-friendly and high-quality agricultural and livestock products, food ingredient safety management, and dietary education-so that both students and parents can feel assured about the school meal environment.

First, the city will continue its school meal expense support project next year without change, targeting approximately 105,000 students at private kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as authorized alternative schools within the city.

This initiative aims to reduce the educational cost burden on parents and help students grow up healthy by ensuring balanced nutritional intake.

The city plans to allocate approximately 35.6 billion won for the 2026 school meal budget, and with Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education’s contributions included, the total school meal budget will reach 120.3 billion won.

In addition, the city will continue to streamline and promote its support project for eco-friendly and high-quality agricultural and livestock products to improve meal quality. Starting in March next year, the city will unify the project under Gyeonggi Province’s “Eco-friendly and High-Quality Agricultural Products School Meal Support Project,” which covers 245 private kindergartens, elementary, middle, high, and special schools, with the city bearing 50% of the cost.

The purpose of this project is to: ▲ enhance financial and operational efficiency, ▲ strengthen support for Gyeonggi Province residents, and ▲ expand the supply of school meal agricultural products within the province, thereby providing a more diverse and higher-quality selection of ingredients in a stable manner.

Claims from some quarters that the city is abandoning the eco-friendly and high-quality agricultural products school meal project are unfounded. On the contrary, approximately 4.8 billion won is being invested in this project, and eco-friendly certified agricultural products, processed foods, and Gyeonggi rice will be supplied to elementary, middle, high, and special schools that wish to participate.

Furthermore, to minimize the impact on local eco-friendly farms that previously participated with 100% city funding, the city is also reviewing various measures to develop new sales channels and provide linked support.

Additionally, the city plans to expand the supply of G-mark certified beef, pork, chicken, and eggs to provide students with fresh and healthy protein foods, while also helping local farms and livestock producers secure stable sales channels and contribute to revitalizing the regional economy.

To ensure the safety of meal ingredients, the city will regularly conduct inspections for pesticide residues, heavy metals, and radioactive substances in agricultural and marine products, as well as perform genetic testing on beef and on-site inspections of suppliers every six months to thoroughly monitor hygiene and quality management.

Goyang City is also operating “visiting dietary education” programs in addition to ingredient support.

Through customized programs ranging from theory and practice-based education for kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school students to eco-friendly cooking experiences for parents and citizens, the city is taking the lead in promoting healthy eating habits and expanding eco-friendly food culture.

A city official stated, “School meals are not just a simple meal, but a policy that takes responsibility for children’s health and future,” adding, “We will ensure that budget support is provided without disruption next year, and will work with the province to further strengthen the eco-friendly meal system.”

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