– Improvement of working environment for cooking workers and prevention of industrial accidents
“Dongji red bean porridge made by a cooking robot is delicious!”
In order to dramatically improve the school kitchen environment, the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education specially produces and operates a differentiated ‘Gyeonggi-do type cooking robot’ that can perform all cooking processes, from frying to stir-frying, and soups and stews.
Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education (Superintendent Lim Tae-hee) is the first in the country to introduce a multi-functional cooking robot at school lunch sites in the province.
The ‘Gyeonggi-do type school meal cooking robot’, which is intended to improve the working environment of school meal cooks and reduce the occurrence of industrial accidents, began trial operation in December targeting five schools in the province.
The Gyeonggi-do type cooking robot carries out the entire process, from preheating the cooker to temperature management and cooking, according to pre-entered information. Accordingly, cooking workers only need to perform tasks such as inspecting food ingredients, washing, cutting, and making seasoning.
The Provincial Office of Education focused on two issues: ‘coexistence’ and ‘efficiency’ when introducing cooking robots.
The newly introduced cooking robots can perform difficult and high-risk tasks without reducing the number of cooking personnel, creating a human-centered working environment that can coexist. In addition, we focused on increasing efficiency with a convergence robot that can perform all cooking processes, from frying and stir-frying to soup and stew.
Gyeonggi-do’s school meal cooking robot was manufactured directly at the request of the provincial office of education, differentiating it from other cities and provinces, and improving efficiency with various functions. In addition, the volume of the main body was reduced to minimize the area occupied in the cooking room, and safety devices were installed to protect workers.
After actually using the cooking robot at the pilot school, workers said, “To cook porridge, you have to keep stirring it, but since the robot does it, labor is reduced,” “The temperature is high when cooking fried foods, but using the robot lowers the risk,” and “The cleaning function has been reduced.” He expressed satisfaction by saying, “It’s very easy to clean.”
Starting with this pilot project, the Provincial Office of Education plans to support schools by establishing a ‘School Lunch Frying Cooking Support Center’ so that more schools in the province can benefit from cooking robots in the future.
An official from the Provincial Office of Education said, “The introduction of Gyeonggi-do style cooking robots is being promoted in accordance with Superintendent Lim Tae-hee’s pledge to guarantee the health rights of school staff,” and added, “Through this, we will solve the problem of high-intensity labor and long-term exposure to high temperatures for cooks, and eliminate the toxic substances that come out when cooking.” “We expect this to reduce health risks caused by vapor,” he said.
Economy Queen Reporter Ryu Jeong-hyeon | Photo: Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education
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