DAEJEON — Daejeon plans a steep increase in the per-meal food budget for its free school lunch program, lifting it to the highest level among South Korea's major metropolitan cities.
The city said on the 6th that it is pushing to raise the 2027 unit cost for free school meal food by 15% from this year, citing rising ingredient prices and difficulties at school cafeterias.
If the 15% increase under review is finalized, Daejeon's per-meal food budget would climb from the lowest level nationwide to sixth among the country's 17 provinces and major cities, and first among the metropolitan cities.
Daejeon's school meal food budget had long stood near the middle of the pack among regional governments. But increases in 2025 and 2026 lagged the rise in ingredient prices and overall inflation, dropping the city to the bottom nationwide.
"School meals are more than a single meal for students. They are an important education and welfare policy that invests in the health and future of growing children," Daejeon Mayor Huh Tae-jung said. "We will boldly improve the level of support so our children can eat healthy meals made with better ingredients."
