24.7 percent of teenagers said they do not eat seafood at all or tend not to consume fishery products. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Teenagers in South Korea do not want seafood that is served for school meals, although they believe it to be nutritious and excellent.
According to a survey of 1,000 middle and high school students nationwide conducted by the Korea Maritime Institute, 81.5 percent said fisheries products are excellent food in terms of health and nutrition.
However, only about 42 percent said they were consuming enough seafood. Some 24.7 percent said they do not eat seafood at all or tend not to consume fishery products.
Meanwhile, 82.8 percent of the respondents said they loved or relatively like seafood. Only 17.2 percent said they did not like it.
The institute said that teenagers showed high preference for fisheries products, contrary to expectations that they would like them less.
Among students who said they disliked seafood, 41.3 percent cited the unique smell, which was the factor that limited consumption. Some 28.5 percent said seafood was uncomfortable to eat because of fish bones.
In particular, 66 percent of the students did not eat at all or threw away side dishes consisting of seafood provided for school meals.
The institute raised the need to strengthen policy support to ensure that the seafood that teenagers like is supplied to school meals, and to improve the taste and diversify recipes.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
