As the need for policy response to managing the eating habits of children and adolescents grows, the government is also actively responding. First, it was decided to revise the standards for designating excellent sales establishments for children’s favorite foods through the revision of the ‘Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on Safety Management of Children’s Diet’ in December of next year.
Until now, only businesses that did not sell high-calorie, low-nutrition foods and high-caffeine foods within food safety protection zones located around schools could be designated. However, among the 35,091 businesses that prepare and sell children’s favorite foods near schools, only 3.9% (1,377) were designated, resulting in a low participation rate. Accordingly, in order to increase the effectiveness of the policy, the government relaxed the standards so that businesses that classify and display healthy foods anywhere, not just around schools, can be designated.
It is expected that simply selling healthy foods separately will have an effect in improving the eating habits of teenagers. This is because the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety piloted a healthy food corner in convenience stores between 2022 and 2024, which showed positive effects. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, stores participating in the pilot project had about 50% higher sales of healthy foods that were displayed and sold separately than stores that did not participate. Additionally, in a survey of youth special committee members in 2023, 90% of respondents expressed the opinion that the healthy food corner pilot project should continue to be promoted.
In fact, according to the ‘Baltimore Healthy Stores Project‘ conducted by the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, when a health food section was established and sold to make it easier to purchase healthy foods, sales of healthy foods significantly increased.
Lee Young-eun, a professor emeritus of the Department of Food and Nutrition at Wonkwang University who served as the chairman of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s Children’s Food Safety Management Committee, said to this newspaper, “If there is a healthy eating corner in the purchasing environment, as in the case of the Johns Hopkins University study in the U.S., it will likely have a great effect in inducing behavioral changes.” He added, “If healthy foods are categorized and displayed in places that are easily accessible, it will have a very positive impact on reducing obesity rates in children and adolescents.” He continued, “Convenience stores can also help improve brand image,” and “rather than the prejudice that convenience stores only sell unhealthy food, convenience stores have the image of contributing to the local community by selling healthy food. This is a structure that can coexist by increasing brand value.”
In addition, the government plans to mandate nutritional labeling for chicken, a high-calorie restaurant menu item preferred by teenagers. Unlike hamburgers and pizza, chicken is not one of children’s favorite foods, so labeling of nutritional information has been left to the discretion of the companies. An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety explained, “Chicken was not included in children’s favorite foods even though children consume 3.2 times more than adults,” adding, “Considering the impact on children’s eating habits, such as increased obesity rates and the scale of chicken consumption, the need to expand labeling has increased.”
In order to ease the burden on the industry before the mandatory implementation in December of next year, we have provided support for nutritional analysis, labeling method guidance, and company promotion to allow chicken companies that wish to voluntarily label nutritional ingredients since last year. As a result, approximately 19 chicken franchises are currently displaying nutritional information for their chicken menus on their websites or delivery order applications.
An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, “We plan to implement policies to help young people choose healthy foods with health and nutritional content in mind,” and added, “We expect that this will contribute to the healthy and balanced growth and development of young people.”
