The purpose of this study was to evaluate the foodservice management practices in child-care centers in order to provide basic information for the development of a model of a centralized food service information center. This approach was achieved using a variety of qualitative and quantitative information including general foodservice management practices and plate waste. A self-completed questionnaire survey of 651 child-care centers in Korea was undertaken and detailed information was carefully collected at 6 representative child-care centers. The results of the empirical survey were as follows: 1. Child-care centers categorized by location were in large cities (59.9%), medium cities (27.6%) and in provincial areas (12.5). 2. Private sector of child-care centers was 46.4% of the total followed by National/public (44.2%) and licensed home day-care programs (9.4%). 3. Total average number of children in child-care centers was 63.3±43.1 with a very significant difference (p〈0.001) in types of child-care centers. 4. The average space of kitchen and dining room was 5.0±3.8 and 10.8±11.0 pyung (1pyung=3.3058 cm2). 5. The average cost of interim snack in morning and afternoon in child-care centers were 345.9±459.3 won and 359.3±226.6 won respectively. The average cost of lunch was 644.0±481.1 won. There was a significant difference (p〈0.001) by types of child-care centers with a highest cost of 863.9 won in licensed home day-care programs. 6. Only a limited number of dietitian were employed, therefore most of food service management practice was not conducted by professional personnel. 7. The result of nutritional analysis of the food revealed that the level of energy and nutrients contained in the food was below the recommeded level (RDA/3).

The purpose of this study was to evaluate food sanitation training program for the improvement of food service operation in day-care centers. Subjects consisted of 55(experimental) and 25(control) foodservice employees and 33(experimental) and 20(control)directors. The results of this study can be summarized as follow: 1. The majority of child care directors(55.0%(control), 46.9%(experimental)) received food sanitation education but 70% of control and 75.7% of experimental group did not conduct any practical sanitation training for employees. 2. The employee's food sanitary practices of control and experimental did not show any significant difference at the pre-test level but only the experimental group showed a significant improvement at the post-test level. 3. The sanitary knowledge of food service employees between two groups did not show any significant difference at the pre-test level, but a significant knowledge improvement was observed at the post-test level such as food poisoning concepts and sanitary equipment maintenance only in experimental group. 4. Dicrectors' sanitary practices affected the employees' sanitary practices but directors' food sanitary knowledge did not have much influence on the employees' knowledge.

The purpose of the study was to develop computer-based menu planning program for day-care centers maximizing food preference score among children and satisfying such constraints as expense, nutrients, and season. Children's preference about 142 menu items was surveyed among 382 children of day-care centers. A 16-bit personal computer compatible with IBM-PC/AT was used. The data base files were created by dBASE III Plus, and processing programs were created by using FORTRAN language. Children preferred bread or a la carte menu items to cooked rice in main dish category. Deep fat fried or stir-fried menu items were more preferred than kimchi or cooked vegetables in side dish category. Preference scores for menu items were influenced by cooking methods or main ingredients. The contents of the computerized system show that when the program runs, the user should type inputs of cycle, season, and menu pattern, then the computer lists a series of menu satisfying the criteria of constraints. The user can examine and select a set of menu from the menu lists. Menus are generated seasonally. Menu lists are generated weekly and monthly basis with the contents of menu items, preference scores and price. Nutrient reports are also generated on a weekly and monthly basis with the contents of calories, 12 nutrients and price. Recipes for each menu items are also generated.