School feeding in Germany and Japan – a comparison

Volker Peinelt, Miki Kurokawa, Mönchengladbach

Part 1: Requirements and facts

For pupils attending whole-day schools a warm lunch is desirable. In Germany, problems of organizing meals at school unfortunately prevail. Other countries such as Japan have a long tradition of serving warm meals at school. A comparison of organization and quality of the school-feeding seems interesting.

While in Japan even details of school feeding are nation-wide regulated by way of ordinance, no such regulations exist in Germany because of the federal system. Recently, some quality standards for school-feeding were published which are not obligatory, however. In Japan, number and qualification of the personnel responsible and continuous training of the staff are regulated. In Japan parents pay less for their children’s lunch although the meals comprise several items. As far as reference values for lunch are concerned, Japan, different from Germany, aims at an increased compensatory nutrient supply, e.g. for calcium. The Japanese expenditure for hygiene is much higher than in Germany, although the pertinent legal prescriptions are very similar.

Keywords: School feeding, Japan, institutional feeding, quality standards, reference values, hygiene

Sie finden den Artikel in deutscher Sprache in Ernährungs Umschau 08/08 ab Seite 466.