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Choi, Kwon, and Yoon: Government-Funded Meal Support Program for Low-Income Children through Convenience Stores : Current Status and Nutritional Quality of Available Meal Items in Seoul
Original Article
Korean Journal of Community Nutrition

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2011; 16(2): 253-264.

Published online: 30 April 2011

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2011.16.2.253

Government-Funded Meal Support Program for Low-Income Children through Convenience Stores : Current Status and Nutritional Quality of Available Meal Items in Seoul

Haelim Choi1, Sooyoun Kwon1, Jihyun Yoon1, 2

1Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

2Research Institute of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Jihyun Yoon, Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151-742, Korea. Tel: (02) 880-8750, Fax: (02) 884-0305, hoonyoon@snu.ac.kr

Received 6 July 2010       Revised 1 February 2011       Accepted 1 April 2011

Copyright © 2011 The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the current status of the Korean government-funded meal support program for low-income children through convenience stores and to evaluate the nutritional quality of the meal items available under the program. The POS data of three convenient stores where children had used their electronic meal cards most often in Seoul during January 2010 and the kinds and amounts of ingredients of the meals items available to the children were obtained from the headquarter of the convenient stores. A total of 5,081 transactions by 693 children included in the POS data was analyzed. In addition, nutritional contents of meal items, which were meal boxes (11 kinds), kimbab (13 kinds), rice balls (27 kinds), inari sushi (1 kind), and sandwiches (26 kinds), were analyzed with Can Pro 3.0. The results showed that children had purchased flavored-milk products most often. Children tended to purchase meal items together with drinks (60.9% of transactions), but some purchased drinks (27.6%) or meal items only (11.5%). Except for meal boxes, none of the meal items satisfied 1/3 of Estimated Energy Requirements of the 9-11 year-old boys per day. The average energy contents of different kinds of meal boxes, kimbabs, rice balls, and sandwiches were 619, 357, 200, and 380 kcal, respectively, and the energy content of a package of Inari sushi was 457 kcal. Vitamin C amount was found to be deficient in all the meal items, compared to 1/3 of Recommended Intake of the 9-11 year-old boys per day. The results of this study could be useful to develop nutritionally appropriate meal items for the convenient stores participating in the government-funded meal support program for children from low-income families.

Keywords: low-income children, convenience store, nutritional quality, meal support program

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1
Percentage of nutritional contents of the meal items with milk available at convenience store under the government-funded meal support program for low-income children compared with the guideline1)
1) 1/3 of Estimated Energy Requirements or Recommended Intake of the 9 - 11 year-old boys per day.
kjcn-16-253-g001
Table 1
General characteristics of the children having received meal support in the sampled areas
kjcn-16-253-i001

1) Children who are not attending school in their school years

Table 2
Purchase characteristics of the children having visited the sampled convenience stores
kjcn-16-253-i002
Table 3
Sales volume and sales of the meal items purchased by the children having used electronic meal cards in the sampled convenience stores for a month
kjcn-16-253-i003
Table 4
Sales per purchase per person of the meal items purchased by the children having used electronic meal cards in the sampled convenience stores for a month
kjcn-16-253-i004

1) Calculated by averaging total price of each food item authorized for the government-funded meal support program for low-income children

2) Calculated by adding up only 200ml volume of the items

3) Calculated by adding up only 190 - 210ml volume of the items

Table 5
Purchase patterns of the children having used electronic meal cards in the sampled convenience stores for a month
kjcn-16-253-i005

1) Others include the following: 'Kimbab + Rice ball + Flavored milk', 'Meal box + Rice ball + Fruit-flavored drink', and 'Kimbab + Fruit-flavored drink' etc

2) Others include the following: 'Soybean milk', 'Plain milk + Flavored milk + Soybean milk', and 'Flavored milk + Fruit-flavored drink' etc

3) Others include the following: 'Kimbab + Rice ball + Sandwich', 'Kimbab + Rice ball', and 'meal box' etc

Table 6
General characteristics of the meal items available at convenience stores under the government-funded meal support program for low-income children
kjcn-16-253-i006
Table 7
Number of servings1) of the meal items available at convenience store under the government-funded meal support program for low-income children
kjcn-16-253-i007

1) We calculated number of servings through one portion size according to food groups set by The Korean Nutrition Society (The Korean Nutrition Society 2005a)

2) Recommended food group intakes of 9 - 11 year-old boys per day

3) Mean ± SD

4) % of guideline

Table 8
Nutritional contents of the meal items available at convenience store under the government-funded meal support program for low-income children
kjcn-16-253-i008

1) 1/3 of Estimated Energy Requirements or Recommended Intake of the 9 - 11 year-old boys per day.

2) Mean ± SD

3) % of guideline

Notes

This research was supported by grants from Korea Food and Drug Administration (10062 Sikpuman 035)

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