Survey on Nutrients of Served and Consumed Foods in Korean Restaurants in Changwon

Lee, Kyung Hea; Pyun, Jeong Soon

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to conduct preliminary research to investigate full course meals in Korean style restaurants in order: i) to analyze the nutrient contents of full course meals per servings, and ii) by analyzing the above, to examine the amount and the quality of the foods served in the full course meals by Korean style restaurants in Changwon. A total of 20 restaurants in Changwon participated in this study, and two investigators visited there, consumed and investigated it. A key finding was that restaurant patrons tended to overconsume nutrients as compared to the Korean Recommended Daily Allowance(RDA), and restaurants generated large amounts of food wastes due to the excess food served. Other findings were as follows: 1) 1,821.2Kcal were served, 1,052.6Kcal were consumed and 768.6Kcal which is equivalent to 1/3RDA were thrown away on average. 2) The average carbohydrate:protein:fat(CPF) ratio of caloric nutrients was 42:27:31. 3) The correlation between the consumed and unconsumed calories was r=0.661 and the correlation between served and unconsumed calories was r=0.819. Both consumed and unconsumed calories were closely related to the served calories. 4) The result of the research showed that mean INQ in most nutrients was higher than 1.0, especially INQ in unconsumed food is mostly higher than INQ in provided and consumed food. 5) The unconsumed food and the meal prices were closely correlated in terms of price loss. These findings indicate the Korean style full course meals consisted of a high-protein, high-fat and high-caloric intake, which is similar to a westernized caloric nutrient pattern. They should also be strongly encouraged to play an active role in improving their customers' nutritional status, as well as reducing the restaurants wastage of food. Lastly, further research should be conducted to improve the quality of the menus in Korean restaurants.