Since the School Lunch Law was enacted in 1954, the school lunch program in Japan has seen rapid development, mainly in compulsory schools.
Eighty-four percent of all pupils in compulsory schools are fed lunch, and nearly half of the meals are provided by the central kitchen system.
There has been much criticism of the central kitchen system concerning the quality of the meals. Recently, it has been demonstrated that many cooks suffer from musculo-skeletal symptoms in their necks, shoulders, arms and lower backs. This paper discusses the relationship between the cooking work load and health hazards by comparing the tasks of cooks in the central kitchen system with those of cooks in individual school kitchens.
All the female cooks in one prefecture were queried by a mail survey method. The respondents totalled 1, 428 (response rate 68%). Of this number, 186 work in 15 central kitchens (group C) and the other 1, 242 work in 401 school kitchens (group S). In addition physical examinations were carried out on cooks who registered serious complaints in the questionnaires and on those who wanted to undergo the examination.
The results are as follows:
1. The work load in the central kitchens is greater than that in the school kitchens.
2. Both groups C and S complained of cervicobrachial symptoms and low-back pain as frequently as other workers already reported to be in a high risk of these hazards.
3. Group C suffer from these hazards more frequently and seriously than group S.
4. Group C assigned “carrying heavy objects” as a cause of low-back pain and cervicobrachial symptoms more frequently than group S. This was related to the difference in numbers of meals served by groups C and S.
5. As a result of the physical examination, serious cases of cervicobrachial disorders and/or low-back pain were found more frequently among cooks who had serious complaints than among other examinees.
It was concluded that these results demonstrated a positive relationship between the cooking work load and the development of health hazards. Therefore, if we wish to protect cooks from these hazards, it is not advisable to maintain the current central kitchen system.