This study aimed to examine the operations of school food services to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in schools nationwide. The survey data on school food service operations targeting nutrition teachers and nutritionists at 1,023 schools in 2020 and 1,177 schools in 2021 were used. The year 2021 saw an increase compared to 2020 in the following: ‘average days to be served with meals for a year (144.5 vs. 184.7)', 'provided meals to all students (92.3% vs. 96.6%)', 'utilization of additional staff for foodservice assistance (33.4% vs. 38.8%)', 'installation of partitions (61.2% vs. 83.8%)', 'provision of general diet (96.1% vs. 99.1%)', and 'use of kitchen utensils (91.3% vs. 95.1%)', 'use of cafeteria water cup (9.9% vs. 31.0%)' and 'use of drinking water in school (46.8% vs. 52.1%)'. Compared to 2020, in 2021, it was confirmed that the school food service operations stabilized due to the increase in the normal school attendance rate and that systems were in place for operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the future, it will be necessary to develop manuals and special recipes necessary for responding to infectious diseases, and to operate a manpower pool that can quickly find replacement personnel if required.

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in serving frequency of elementary school meal before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Number of menus provided in June and July of 2019 and 2020 were compared for 300 elementary schools in Korea. As a result, the serving frequency of la carte and dessert was increased after COVID-19. In addition, frequencies of main dishes such as pork cutlet, chicken, sweet and sour pork, hamburger steak, and so on using processed food were increased after COVID-19. Because of the longer serving time due to staggered serving, cook's working time for serving meals became longer. Therefore, it was judged that the number of servings of processed food was increased rather than the menu with a large amount of preprocessing work. Moreover, among desserts, fruits showed increased serving frequency. Serving frequencies for juice and dairy products were also increased. However, increased servings of juice and dairy products could increase sugar intake. Thus, a careful plan for menu composition is needed to provide balanced nutrients to students under emergency situations such as an infectious disease.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extraction yield and physicochemical characteristics of mucin from the epidermal mucus of Misgurnus mizolepis. Ninety percent ethanol produced the highest yield of mucin. At higher concentrations, mucin had more elastic properties, as revealed by dynamic viscoelasticity measurements. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) demonstrated that mucin is a thermostable glycoprotein. Denaturation enthalpy increased as mucin concentration increased. Mucin inhibited the growth of both Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus, but had better antimicrobial activity in the former. Mucin also exhibited antioxidant activity, equivalent to 66.64% of that of L-cysteine. Mucin inhibited elastase activity and MMP-1 & MMP-2 expression activity, and induced hyaluronic acid expression. It is indicating that mucin is effective in moisturizing and anti-aging the skin. Thus, mucin from the epidermal mucus of Misgurnus mizolepis could have great potential as a non-food material in various industries.