[iNews24 reporter Ahn Young-rok] Starting this month, Cheongju City in North Chungcheong Province will begin serving fruit snacks to first- and second-graders enrolled in tailored and after-school care classes.
On May 3, Cheongju City announced it will spend 500 million KRW (approximately $375,000) to promote healthy eating habits and balanced nutrition among children.
The program will reach about 6,000 elementary students at 95 schools that run tailored and after-school care classes and applied to participate in the fruit-snack initiative.
Through October, the city will provide each student with roughly 150 g (5.3 oz) of fruit and produce in cup servings, twice a week, for a total of 30 distributions.
Supplied fruit and produce will meet Korea’s domestic agricultural "Sang" grade or higher, with priority given to organic or GAP-certified items.
Seok Kyung-tae, head of Cheongju City’s public meal team, said, “We will do our best to carry out this program so students form healthy eating habits with fresh fruit snacks and so increased consumption of domestic produce helps boost farmers’ incomes.”
