title: Comparison of the nutrient-based standards for school lunches among South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.
abstract: Nutritional standards are important guidelines for providing students with nutritionally-balanced school meals. This study compared nutrient-based school lunch standards regulated by South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. The data were collected from relevant literature and websites of each country during September 2014. The number of classification groups of target students was 8, 5, and 5 for South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, respectively. Gender was considered across all age groups in South Korea but only for high school students in Taiwan. Gender was not considered in Japan. Along with energy, the number of nutrients included in the standards for South Korea, Japan and Taiwan was 9, 12, and 4, respectively. The standards for all three countries included protein and fat among macronutrients. The standards for South Korea and Japan included vitamin A, B-1, B-2, and C, while the standards for Taiwan did not include any vitamins. Calcium was the only mineral commonly included in the three standards. The proportions of recommended daily intakes as reference values for each nutrient differed among the countries. Japan differentiated the proportions among 33%, 40%, or 50%, reflecting the target students' intake status of the respective nutrients. Taiwan differentiated either two-fifths or one-third of the recommended daily intakes. South Korea applied the proportion of recommended daily intake as one-third for all selected nutrients. This study could be valuable information for countries in developing nutrient-based standards for school lunches and for South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan in the process of reforming nutrient-based standards.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Meeyoung
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Satoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chengyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Soyoung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Culinary Arts, Woosong University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jiyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Emely
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.affiliation: Center for International Collaboration and Partnership, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, National Institute of Health and Nutrition, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nozue
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Nutrition, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Email: hoonyoon@snu.ac.kr; mee1242@snu.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jihyun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D062409:Lunch; D008297:Male; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008903:Minerals / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009753:Nutritive Value; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012574:Schools; D013624:Taiwan; D014815:Vitamins / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D018977:Micronutrients; D008903:Minerals; D014815:Vitamins