Strategy mapping for reopening school canteen in new normal era by safety and halal standard

Abstract

The school canteen must provide nutritious, safe, and halal food. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was not easy to manage the canteen operations. This study aims to map the barrier, driving factors, and priorities strategy to prepare for reopening the senior high school’s canteen with safe and halal standards in the new normal era. This study was analytically observational with a cross-sectional approach in nature. SWOT and Fuzzy-ANP (F-ANP) methods identified and determined the priority strategies. The SWOT analysis results show that internal factors are moderate, but external factors strongly influence the school canteen’s position, hence growth and development strategies are required. Based on weighted priority by F-ANP six strategies are recommended. The six strategies to reopen safe and halal of Senior High School canteen are as follows: establish school canteen management commitment with food handlers and other stakeholders with distinct communication; develop safe and halal school canteens, the authority should consider affordable menu prices; serving a variety of safe and halal menus according to the purchasing power, mainly students; conduct education or training according to the needs of school academia and canteen management for food safety and halal; develop new menus or re-formulate existing menus considering school academia and supporting food safety, halal, and nutrition; and finally, conduct training on processing and serving safe and halal menus for school canteen managers and food handlers. These alternative strategies are expected to better prepare for reopening the school canteen with safe and halal standards in the new normal era.

Keywords:

• halal
• post-pandemic
• reopening
• safe
• school canteen

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

School canteens should provide nutritious, safe, and halal food. It is not easy to manage a school canteen in the new normal era. This paper maps out the barriers, drivers, and strategies for reopening school canteens with safe and halal standards. The results of the prioritised strategies resulted in six strategies for reopening safe and halal school canteens: building a commitment to school canteen management with food handlers and other stakeholders with clear communication; school canteen authorities should consider affordable menu prices; serving various safe and halal menus according to purchasing power, especially students; conducting education or training according to the needs of the school academic community and canteen management for food safety and halal; develop new menus or reformulate existing menus taking into account school academics and supporting food safety, halal, and nutrition; and finally, conducting training on safe and halal menu processing and serving for school canteen managers and food handlers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author’s contributions

The research idea was developed by Sucipto Sucipto, Titis Sari Kusuma, and Khothibul Umam Al Awwaly. The research was conducted by Sucipto Sucipto, Titis Sari Kusuma, Khothibul Umam Al Awwaly, Muhammad Arwani, and Luki Hidayati. This manuscript was written and edited by Sucipto Sucipto, Muhammad Arwani, and Luki Hidayati. Judhiastuty Februhartanty monitored and offered advice on this manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data are available upon request from the corresponding author

Ethical approval

This study protocol was approved by the Health Research Ethics Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Brawijaya, through Ethical Approval Letter No. 237/EC/KEPK/08/2021.

Additional information

Funding

This study received funding from the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (SEAMEO RECFON) in 2021 under Grant [No. 304/PPK/SEAMEO RECFON/III/2021].

Notes on contributors

Sucipto Sucipto

Sucipto Sucipto is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Agroindustrial Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Brawijaya. His main research interests are quality systems, halal, and food safety.

Titis Sari Kusuma

Titis Sari Kusuma is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Nutrition Science, Universitas Brawijaya. She specialises in food safety, food microbiology, and food science.

Khothibul Umam Al Awwaly

Khotibul Umam Al Awwaly is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Animal Product Technology, Universitas Brawijaya. He is a specialist in animal product technology. His research interest is in the biotechnology of byproducts.

Muhammad Arwani

Muhammad Arwani graduated from the Department of Agroindustrial Technology, Universitas Brawijaya, and then became a lecturer at the Nahdatul Ulama University of Indonesia. His research focuses on food processing and quality.

Luki Hidayati

Luki Hidayati is a researcher assistant in Halal Qualified Industry Development (Hal-Q ID) at Universitas Brawijaya.

Judhiastuty Februhartanty

Judhiastuty Februhartanty is a researcher at Seameo Recfon, Universitas Indonesia. She has a research area in community nutrition.