Students at an elementary school in Seoul receive rice cakes and fruit juice as a replacement for a regular school meal , after temporary school staff at some 115 schools in Seoul went on strike on June 23 . About 40 percent of temporary workers at schools are cooks in school kitchens . Yonhap A photo of a school lunch at Bongsan Elementary School in Daejeon recently went viral and prompted a heated debate on social media . A chicken skewer , a cube of watermelon , a slice of pickle and a handful of noodles were placed on a food tray . It was prepared as a lunch for elementary school students aged approximately 7 to 12 . Not only did the meal seem to lack enough nutritional value for a growing child , but it also seemed unable to justify the fixed price per meal at 3 , 000 - 3 , 500 won ( $ 2 . 60 -$ 3 ) . “ Why do innocent schoolchildren have to eat this poor meal ? ” read one comment . “ It is really shocking and sad for them , ” said another . Hygiene at the school ’ s kitchen was also found to be inadequate . Some fifth and sixth graders said they sometimes found hair , tissues and plastic pieces in their meals . One government investigation , found that food trays contained up to 5 , 979 types of bacteria , about 30 times more than would normally be expected . The Daejeon Metropolitan Office of Education immediately released an apology and vowed to conduct a special audit into Bongsan Elementary School through a committee comprising parents , civic groups and field experts . As a result , seven faculty staff in the school kitchen , including a nutritionist and cook , lost their jobs . South Korea ’ s public schools have been providing meals since 2003 . A total of 6 . 14 million students at some 11 , 700 elementary , middle , high and special schools nationwide were provided meals from Monday to Friday at their schools as of February , according to the Education Ministry . The current School Meals Act states that the local government is responsible for ensuring meals are nutritional and produced in hygienic conditions . After a huge food poisoning scandal broke out in schools in Incheon in 2006 , stricter regulations , such as mandatory food service from school - operated kitchens and penalty systems , were introduced . Despite the government and municipalities ’ efforts to improve conditions at school kitchens and meals , complaints have continued to grow among students and workers at school kitchens . Jeong Su - bin , a 17 - year - old high school student in Suwon , told The Korea Herald that she buys her lunch from a nearby convenience store on her way to school . She said the diverse options to choose for her meal , despite most of them presumably containing significant amounts of preservatives , was the biggest merit of not relying on the school kitchen . “ Food at my school is simply not tasty , ” said Jeong , adding she normally buys bulgogi kimbap or crab sandwiches . Jeong said she started to buy her own meals after she was told to eat all the leftovers on her food tray . She said she was given a large portion from the staff at the school kitchen , and was forced to eat it all due to the penalty system at her school . A photo uploaded by a parent of a student at Bongsan Elementary School shows a school meal served at an elementary school . ( Parents ’ association at Bongsang Elementary School ) “ It was like a nightmare . Why do I have to eat bad - tasting food just because it was on my food tray ? ” asked Jeong . Many of the schools here face problems from food waste , which costs a tremendous amount of money to dispose of each year . According to Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education , at least 2 billion won was spent in 2015 to dispose of 15 , 970 tons of food waste at schools in Seoul . This accounted for 13 . 3 percent of the total school support budget provided by the government . Statistics in 2013 showed that an average of 30 . 8 kilograms of food waste was produced by a single high school student each year , while an average of 15 . 1 kilograms of food waste was produced by an elementary school student . In order to prevent accumulation of food waste , some schools prepare meals with a minimum amount of ingredients or cook with ingredients that can be stored for a long period of time , leading to poor quality . According to a recent investigation by authorities , 16 schools in North Gyeongsang Province were caught using ingredients that had expired . In order to calm public distrust toward school meals and criticisms from parents , the Education Ministry said Thursday that it would implement active monitoring and conduct evaluations on food service at schools by checking a photo uploaded by the school kitchen every day of the meal distributed on the food tray . The ministry explained that it was to offer a transparent food service system that was open and accessible to all students , parents and authorities . Those who do not upload a photo will be given a penalty point during the food service evaluation that is conducted twice a year by the local government . However , industry workers point to what they see as a more fundamental cause -- the need for better working conditions for cooking staff . They added that cooking staff , mostly temporary workers , are faced with discriminatory treatment at the workplace compared to nutritionists . “ There is a big gap in treatment between nutritionists and cooking staff at school kitchens . A lot of the cooks are very often neglected and treated unfairly , ” said Kim Jin - sook , head of the nutritionist association , citing a lack of communication between them as another big issue . “ A reduced workload and an improved labor environment for the cooking staff would naturally lead to better quality of school meals , ” said an official from the labor union for temporary workers at schools . According to the current Enforcement Decree of the School Meal Act , the related regulation only addresses the duty and role of a nutrition teacher , someone who , as a licensed teacher , should be able to “ guide and supervise the kitchen staff . ” By Kim Da - sol ( ddd @ heraldcorp . com ) <ⓒ KoreaHerald ( www . koreaherald . com ) 무단 전재 및 재 배포 금지 >