Food and drug safety ministry names meal-service innovation winners

The food and drug safety ministry said that a meal-service management center in Gangnam-gu in Seoul won the top prize in its eighth innovation competition for a data-based menu-management system.

The ministry chose eight cases from 91 nationwide submissions. It held the competition to identify and spread innovative operating practices that strengthen support for meal facilities.

Sixteen entries reached the final round after preliminary screening. Experts accounted for 60% of the evaluation and regional centers' votes for 40%, with entries assessed on four criteria. The ministry selected one top prize, two excellence awards and five encouragement awards.

The Gangnam center had handled menu reviews by email. Its award-winning entry combines online mobile-app review automation with a database-based menu-management system. Centers provide monthly menus to meal facilities, and center nutritionists assess revisions before replying to facilities.

One of the two excellence awards went to the Kimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province center. Its entry replaced a complex hygiene manual with QR codes and YouTube Shorts videos to make kitchen hygiene guidance easier to understand and put into practice.