New Medicine (Dec 2016)
CUrrent ChAllAnGes FACed By pUBliC CAterinG. pUBliC CAterinG As A tool For BehAVioUrAl edUCAtion With A potentiAl to Form heAlthier dietAry AttitUdes
Abstract
Introduction. public catering (also known as mass catering) is an area of nutrition of the population by which the frequency ofnutrition-related diseases can be significantly mitigated with the introduction of effective preventive measures. this hypothesisis supported by several studies from all over the world. the analysis of these studies enables a more accurate view on the efficiency of regulative legal measures adopted with regard to public catering.Aim. the aim of this study was to study legal regulations of different countries that are similar to hungarian ministerial decreeno. 37/2014 (iV.30) emmi on the nutritional regulations of public catering, as well as to compare the results of our survey,conducted in order to assess the efficacy of the aforementioned hungarian legal act, with data concerning nutrition of childrenfrom other countries, with the emphasis on slovakia.Material and methods. the study was conducted between november 2015 and march 2016. 173 hungarian catering managers,as well as 53 hungarian and 40 slovak school children who regularly eat meals provided by public catering, participated in ourstudy. All the participants were selected randomly. We processed and aggregated the data obtained and performed statisticaltests, using microsoft excel and the r project software. We compared the menus available in schools to the applicable legalregulations and analysed them, using the nutriCompÉtrend sport 3.03 (hungarian version of nutriComp diet sport 3.03)software.Results. We discovered that the main factor which influenced the opinion of children on their meals was their taste, but external factors influencing their perception of the meal (such as the appearance of the meal, its taste, general cleanliness, beingfamiliar with the food served, healthiness of the meal and presence of friends) were also important, which was independentfrom their country of origin. the participating hungarian children more frequently than slovak children described their mealsas undersalted. only a small percentage of the participants studied the menu attentively. energy content and nutritive valueof the meals offered by public catering services differed significantly and the analysed menus failed to meet the governmentalrecommendations accurately in both countries. energy content and salt content were not consistent with the recommendationsin both countries.even though the majority (87%) of the public catering service kitchens in hungary introduced some required technical ortechnological alterations during the grace period allowed by the decree no. 37/2014 emmi, the majority of them (62%) stillneeded further alterations at the time of the study in order to fully comply with the decree, as declared by managers of thecatering services that participated in our study.Conclusions. one of the most important problem at the time of the study was the need of modernization that should be pursued as soon as possible by the majority of the catering facilities. the taste of meals provided by mass catering is currently farfrom optimal and, therefore, development in formulation is needed, including introduction of new technologies and new rawmaterials. the analysis of our results proved that the demand for mass catering services depends on the quality of the food provided and on external factors influencing the perception of the meal, and that there is demand for the development of healthymeals. Complying with the operating law and satisfying the expectations of the consumers are not easy tasks and, therefore,cooperation between all the subjects that contribute to the public catering chain is important. Governmental support is alsoindispensable.
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