Background of Research
Due to the deepening of gap between the rich and the poor pursuant to the polarization of income, vulnerable layers of population are expanding in our society, and the unhealthy dietary life of these people has emerged as a significant social issue. The government has been implementing diversified projects for the vulnerable class but the projects are evaluated to be insufficient to cover the target layers while the vast majority of the people are positioned at blind spots where the benefit does not reach. The support provided through these projects is either operated in the form of a living cost support or limited to some consumers of a particular layer in the form of an essential nutritional support. Even in the case of those who receive the benefit, a question is being raised as to whether the support is sufficient enough to cover their dietary needs.
The purpose of this study is to understand the current status of food consumption and nutritional intake of the socially underprivileged, including low-income households, and to suggest ways of further invigorating the government food aid programs aimed at ensuring sustainable food supply to the vulnerable people.

Method of Research
For the review of the operational status of the food support system and a survey of relevant systems in foreign countries, data were compiled through various means such as survey visits to relevant institutions and commissioning of research projects to experts.
In order to identify the status of the vulnerable people and their food expenditure and nutritional intake, raw data of statistics surveys were used for analysis. The raw data from ‘Household Trend Survey’ of Statistics Korea were used for the analysis of household income and expenditure for the period from 2000 through 2011, and the raw data from ‘National Health and Nutrition Survey’ of the Ministry of Health and Welfare were used for the analysis of nutrition and food intake for the period of 2007 through 2010. As for the analysis of welfare support to vulnerable people, the raw data from ‘Korea Welfare Panel’ were used for the period of 2005 through 2009. In order to conduct a survey on the dietary life of vulnerable people and their views about the support system, a target population of 765 persons were surveyed for two months from July to August of 2012.
For the review of a plan to stimulate the food support system, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 80 experts from July to August of 2012, and a research council was organized.

Research Results and Implications
The government food aid programs should be aimed at ensuring sustainable food supply to the nation while striving to build connections between the local agricultural industry and food producers so that consumers can have better access to safe and fresh foods. Program accessibility and adoptability by the needy should be thoroughly considered and the efficient operation of food aid policies should be ensured through the foundation of close links among related parties. In the short term, new food aid programs need to be initiated toward selected groups of people who need food support, and for the medium and long term, the existing food policies need to be consolidated into a more prevailing food voucher program. The food vouchers need to be gradually converted into an electronic voucher system by expanding the electronic payment system.
The beneficiaries of food aid programs should be selected based on income, wealth, age, specific features of individual households, etc. with the basic understanding of the food insecurity and insufficient nutritional intake faced by the vulnerable class. On the question of income level, the income criteria need to be set at 140～180%(150%) of the minimum cost of living so that 70～80%(75%) of households with food insecurity can be chosen as aid recipients. Among the people aged 65 years or older, the elderly with insufficient nutritional intake account for 41.6%, and the figure shoots up to 56.0% in small rural areas (in the case of Eup and Myeon). Keeping this in mind, the elderly living alone should be considered as the first priority for the programs, followed by other classes of people to be covered by expanded programs. Suitable food aid items include vegetables, mushrooms, meat, milk and eggs where severe food and nutritional insufficiency is identified. Considering the need to provide high-quality fresh foods to promote healthy diet, the food aid programs are recommended to use fresh fruits, vegetables and other fresh foods locally produced. When deciding which food items to be supplied, the specific choice of food items needs to be autonomously determined at the local level considering the seasonal produce of the regions and agricultural production and distribution conditions. The food distribution method should be chosen after a comprehensive consideration of various factors including physical conditions of the recipients, such as age and possession of illness, the cooking ability dependent on social and demographical features, and the accessibility to food suppliers.
To lay down the foundation for food aid programs, Article 7 of the Framework Act on Agriculture and Fisheries, Rural Community, and Food Industry should be revised to stipulate on the consumption stage, and the other laws, which set forth the regulations related to the management of food demand and supply by food types, need to be revised or have new provisions enacted. For the food aid programs which are currently delegated to the Ministry of Health and Welfare or local governments, related provisions should be prepared to ensure firm links to producer groups for the supply of food materials, and at the same time the policy support from the MIFAFF should be pursued. Besides, the program beneficiaries should be given dietary consulting and education to build up the ability to control their own diet and nutrition intake, and the satisfaction level of the programs should be checked and referred to in the development of suitable menus for the vulnerable and the creation and dissemination of containers suitable for food delivery. Furthermore, in order to build the foundation for an electronic voucher system, preparatory measures should be taken step by step concerning the system implementation requirements such as design and development of electronic card system, franchise formation, and education and training.


Researcher: Kyei-Im Lee, Yun-Jae Hwang, Dong-So Lee, Ga-Young Kim
Research Period: 2012. 1～2012. 12
E-mail Address: lkilki@krei.re.kr