Immaculate Conception Academy

East Campus

FACTORS AFFECTING GRADE 10 ICA STUDENTS FOOD

PREFERENCE IN SCHOOL CAFETERIA

A Research Paper Presented to

MRS. ABYGAIL CORONEZA
Faculty, Junior High School
Immaculate Conception Academy

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Subject Requirements for
ENGLISH

Fourth Quarter, SY 2021-2022

By:
EISEN NEIL ANDRADA
CALVIN JAMES BATO
MARK BORO
JEDRICK HENRY CORTEZ
ARYANAH GAERLAN
SHERILLEN GAZO
KARISSA MAE GENEVEO
REYSHEL LISEN
ERIN FAYE LUAYON
LIANA FAITH VILLAREAL

May 17, 2022

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CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

The need for food is one of the most basic of man's drives. When food is limited, a person will

consume whatever he thinks to be food, but when food is plentiful, he becomes more selective.

Food service employees may plan and prepare meals that are more acceptable to their customers

by understanding what foods mean to them and how this influences their decisions and actions.

According to Murimi et al. (2016), a typical person makes over 200 decisions about food each

day. Since children spend so much of their time at school and eat at least one meal there every

day, this setting offers a unique chance to influence what they eat. Understanding the factors that

influence a student's food choices at school is crucial for developing future interventions aimed

at increasing the consumption of healthy meals and beverages while decreasing the consumption

of unhealthy foods and beverages.

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, for instance, required the USDA (United States

Department of Agriculture) to establish recommendations for school wellness programs and

nutrition instruction, as well as ensuring that marketed foods and beverages, including breakfasts

and lunches supplied at school, meet health requirements. Food choice factors differ by life

stage, and the importance of one element varies from one person or group of people to the next.

As a result, not all population groups will benefit from the same type of intervention to change

food choice behavior. Rather, treatments should be tailored to diverse groups of people, taking

into account the numerous factors that influence their food choices.

Other studies have not thoroughly studied the factors that influence students' food choices at

school with the goal of acquiring an in-depth understanding of students' perceptions of the school

menu. The researcher aims to learn about multi-level influences on their food choices and get

feedback on how to improve the school cafeteria meals. Furthermore, this study provides
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comprehensive descriptive data on multi-level factors impacting adolescent meal choices, which

may aid in boosting school food acceptance.

This research focuses on the factors affecting the Grade 10 ICA student's food preference in

the school cafeteria. The main respondents will be the grade 10 students from Immaculate

Conception Academy who will benefit from this analysis. The purpose of the study is to make

students' preferred foods abundant for them as well as help the small canteen stalls get an idea of

how to make their business grow popular among the students. This research will give the canteen

owner more information on students' food choices.

Statement of the Problem

The purpose of this study is to know G10 ICA students food preference and find out the

factors affecting their decision when buying at a school cafeteria. In order to provide students the

kind of food they want, the food stalls of ICA should know the factors' students consider when

purchasing food.

•What type of food do students usually buy?

•How often do students buy food in a day?

•Factors to consider when picking food?

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Conceptual Framework

INPUT PROCESS OUPUT

a) Allowance per day a) Survey questionnaire Determine the factors of

Grade 10 students on how
b) Gender b) Tabulation they choose their food
preference at the school
cafeteria of Immaculate
Conception Academy East
Campus.

Scope and Delimitations

This research focuses only on the factors that affects the student's food preference on

school cafeteria in Grade 10 ICA - East located at Dasmariñas City Cavite. The people covered

in this study are the vendors in the cafeteria, who is providing foods for the grade 10 students of

ICA-EAST. This research also provide some interest or concerns regarding what the grade 10

students most likely to buy or to ignore when its recess or lunch break.

The researchers who is in charge for this research were given a consent to observe and ask

for some informations. This was also served as an agreement that they are going to answer the

questions and willing to collaborate with the researchers who's involved in this study. This study

cover the interest or concerns of the Grade 10 Students.

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Significance of the Study

This research is focused on helping everyone understand the food preferences of the students

in the cafeteria of Immaculate Conception Academy East Campus Grade 10 students. The

researchers are hoping to help the following:

 Students - Making this research could help the students to be interested on eating more to

prevent starvation by offering the best menus the cafeteria can offer the students in the

school. Students will be more satisfied when the food that are available will provide

satisfaction allowing a better performance throughout the day.

 School vendors - the authors hope that this study can help the cafeteria or food stall

owners by further elaborating the best menus they can offer the students in the school

and give the school vendors higher chances to get better sales.

 Other schools - schools that also has cafeterias or canteens can benefit from this research

since each one pretty much have the similar target audience from the age range of the

customers to each personal likings.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined operationally for a better comprehension of the study:

Abundant- Refers to anything that contains large quantity.

Analysis- Is the procedure of evaluating analyzing, and studying of anything complex.

Benefit- The perks or advantage that someone obtained.

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Consumption- The act or process of using things.

Crucial- Is very important and significant to resolve a certain problem.

Elaborating - An action that gives deeper or expound meaning.

Factors- Refers to the enumerated set of facts.

Grow- Is the action of improving, developing, and succeeding.

Intervention - The act of interfering or involvement in a difficult situation to prevent it from

getting worse.

Limited- Anything that is available for a short period of time.

Necessity- Is something that is extremely important and needed.

Preference- Is choosing something that fit to your liking than any other things

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter proffers the relevant literature and studies to strengthen the importance of present

study done by the researchers. This will serve as a guide for researchers to fully understand the

research for better comprehension.

Local Literature

Food-Related Behavior of University students in Misamis Occidental

Unhealthy foods are the most bought in most universities on Misamis Occidental. Some

university studies on what students usually buy. The percentage on what students buy iz 80%

junk foods and 20% healthy foods. Its obvious that students like delicious foods rather than

healthy foods. The study also shows that 8 out of 10 students will buy junk foods even though it

is not yet their lunch time. Because of the cravings of the students they manage to sneak out of

class to buy the food that they like. The estimated budget of students in Misamis Occidental is

500-2000 pesos and with that money the students can buy a lot of foods. (Abrenilla, Ocay,

Pingkian, Sarancial, Tatoy, Pabriga, Atienza, 2016).

Importance of Healthy Meals on Cafeterias

As nutrition interventions during a child's early years of life are anchored on the need to

provide good nutrition and proper health care to optimize their growth potential as adults that

will assess the efficacy of a school-lunch and obesity prevention among schoolchildren in terms

of attaining good nutrition. Protein requirement was met by more children and households than

the energy requirement. The group receiving the comprehensive intervention of school lunch and

nutrition education had the most children with normal nutritional status following the

interventions (25.3 %). The provision of both school-lunch feeding and nutrition education is

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effective in improving the knowledge, attitude and behavior scores and nutritional status of

schoolchildren. Complete intervention with school lunch and nutritional instruction in schools

should be adopted and institutionalized. (Dorado, Azaña, Viajar, Ramirez, Ferrer, Buyco, Aguila,

Capanzana, 2020)

Food preferences and dietary intakes of Filipino adolescents in metro Manila, the

Philippines

In Metro Manila, Philippines, a sample of a hundred and twenty ranging from 13-17 years old

from different schools and communities was selected using quota sampling with BMI, sex, and

age as the criteria. The results were conducted using one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni test and

Pearson’s product-moment and Spearman’s correlation using SAS Enterprise Guide version 2.

There is a positive correlation between fibre, calcium and phosphorus intake and BMI, which is

likely because people with higher BMIs tend to have lower intakes of these nutrients. Male

respondents gave statistically higher preference for French fries, tofu, garlic and mussels than

female respondents. (Magbuhat, Burazon, Villarino, 2011).

Local Studies

Utilizing Optimization Technique in the Formulation and Development of Snacks for

Public Secondary School Students of the Philippines

This study referenced how students buy foods with a limited allowance. They usually buy

foods that is afford able and delicious. This study proposes snacks that will meet various public

high schools in the East II District of Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines students' buying capacity

while also considering the nutrition it could give them. The result of the study is that the LP

model provided recipes for fried banana spring rolls. The respondents confirmed the desirable

ratings. The recipes are now recommended to be produced by school canteens to meet the

nutritional needs of students at a cost affordable to them. (Namoco, 2015).

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Variety Choices of Food

"Be prepared to put on a few extra pounds as you satisfy your appetites by indulging in a

Filipino feast," says the Philippines Department of Tourism. Try the following dishes: Lechon,

spit-roasted whole pig served with liver sauce; Adobo, marinated pork, chicken, or a

combination of both in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic and stewed until tender; Kare-kare, meat

and vegetables cooked with peanut sauce served with shrimp paste; Sinigang, pork or seafood in

tamarind soup; or the freshest seafoods—fish, squid, shrimp, lobsters—grilled to perfection.

Balut, or boiling duck eggs containing a partly developed embryo, and Dinuguan, a hog blood

stew served with steaming rice or Puto, rice cakes, are also recommended for the more daring.

There are restaurants all around the nation that serve various cuisines.

cuisines ranging from American to Chinese, Indian to Greek, Japanese to French.

A Decision Support System for Optimizing Nutrient in Daily Lunch Intake among College

Students in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines using Linear Programming

A study to develop a decision support system to find food choices that will optimize nutrient

intake among college students given their food choices and budget by formulating and solving

linear programming models. Based on the computations, it was found out that the smallest

possible cost to satisfy the minimum requirements for energy, carbohydrates, protein, and fat, is

PhP 40, for food bought at the cafeteria. This food menu includes rice, chopsuey and bihon. It

can be observed that as the budget is increased, the food included in the menu also changed, and

correspondingly, the nutrient contents of these food choices vary. It is also interesting to note

that as the budget increases, the number of food choices included in the menu also increase.

(Namoco, 2021).

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Foreign Literature

Quality of Food and Beverage

According on a previous studies indicated the degree of satisfaction with university cafeteria

depends mostly on food and beverage quality. Food quality is the quality characteristics of food

that is acceptable to customer. Overall quality of the food and beverage, the taste, the freshness,

the nutritious aspect, and the portion size is categorized under food quality measurement. As a

core product of a food service operation, food and beverage quality has been given a great

importance and has been checked for many aspects such as temperature, texture, flavour, and

aroma. Food and beverage quality is considered to affect the customers’ intentions to come back

again to a specific restaurant. Oh found a high positive relationship between consumer

satisfaction with food and beverage quality and their intention to continue eating in a specific

restaurant. Furthermore, workplace eating is frequently associated with poor quality and bad

food choices which have negative consequences. Tam et al. have stated various aspects for

encouraging customers to eat healthy. Institutions have a responsibility to provide an

environment that makes it easier for students to make healthier food easier. Previous research

indicates that many institutions food environments are filled with energy-dense nutrient-poor

food that may be heavily promoted. Moreover, it is the operators’ role to provide a variety of

products in their menus that will give its customers more options to choose from. The menu is

definitely one of the key indicators of restaurants’ marketing plans.

Quality of Service

Service quality is considered a key element in the restaurant sector, bearing in mind that

dining in restaurants is essentially a social event

In some studies, it was found that service quality was more important than food quality in dining

satisfaction. Yuksel and Yusel suggested that service quality has significant effect on dining

satisfaction at an aggregate market level and particularly for adventurous or healthy food seekers.

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Furthermore, the quality of the service has been nowadays measured with respect to the

customers’ expectations and insights towards the offered service. As per Inkumsah, it was found

that customer satisfaction is affected by the quality of offered food service. In the same context,

Garg stated that food service has an impact on customers’ perceptions towards a restaurant.

Küçükaltan declared that different customers can judge differently the same food service, and

this is mainly related to the customers’ opinions regarding the food service provided. If the

offered service does not meet or is less than the customers’ expectations, then the perceived

service quality will be low; if it does exceed the customers’ expectations, then the perceived

service quality will be high. Abo-Baker described service quality as the organization’s ability to

satisfy the customers, within the determination of specifications, characteristics, and

requirements of service that gratify the desires and needs of customers and exceed their

expectations.

In the higher education milieu, according to Kim et al. students’ expectations and perceptions

regarding the quality of service vary from one student to another and from one semester to the

next. Hence, this variation leads to a more complex, diverse, and dynamic business environment,

a difficulty in measuring service quality, and a difficulty in identifying the determinants of

service quality. Tan et al. specified that this intangible element is one of the vital components in

service quality. Because services are intangible, it is difficult to measure them. Moreover, the

employees especially in service quality play a vital role in the success of food service outlets.

The personality traits and the use of social networking affect job satisfaction among workers.

According to Employees’ behaviour affects customers’ perceptions of service quality. The

interaction between cafeteria staff and customers, such as friendly gestures, e.g., greetings and

high levels of responsiveness, cleanliness, and quick service, is important as it influences

satisfaction with the service quality. It is worth mentioning that service operators should enhance

the quality of service provided on-campus to discourage students from searching for alternative

food service operations off-campus. Students are not limited to on-campus food service quality,

as they are aware of surrounding food service quality.

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Satisfaction granted by food in school cafeterias

Many colleges are embattled to retain their students, so attention to food services can be

important. Administrators must, therefore, consider the total offering which includes food

services. A study has been tested using data from a survey conducted at a college in northwestern

Pennsylvania. The results suggest that the three most important variables that explain student

satisfaction include staff behavior, food quality, and price. Another factors that could affect the

students food preferences are the cleanliness, responsiveness, and atmosphere of the cafeteria.

(Syed Saad Andaleeb PhD, Amy Caskey, Sep 2008)

Foreign Studies

University students' on-campus food purchasing behaviors, preferences, and opinions on

food availability

This study conveys that emerging adulthood is a time when more than half of young adults are

attending tertiary education that could provide a chance to influence future eating behaviors. The

research aimed to identify ways to improve healthy eating in university food environments.

Students from a large university completed a survey about their food purchasing and food choice

behaviors over the course of four weeks, also their opinions of the campus food environment.

The study took place at seven Australian universities in which 653 students were currently

enrolled at the time. The majority of respondents were women (77%), younger than 25 years old

(83%), and enrolled full-time (96%). The most influential factors when it comes to choosing

food are taste, value, convenience, and cost. The most common suggestions for improving the

food available to students were lowering the cost and increasing the variety. Numerous students

buy food on campus, and there are opportunities to step in and improve diet quality. The results

show that healthy food demand and price fixing are essential means of change. This information

will alter the food environment at the local university and may also be helpful for planning

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interventions at other universities. (Tam, Yassa, Parker, O'Connor, Allman-Farinelli, F.D.A.A,

2017).

"Factors influencing eating behavior and dietary intake among resident students in a

public university in Bangladesh: A qualitative study."

This article states that there are a lot of factors being influenced by the students dietary intake

and eating behavior such as taste, taboos, and prices. Eating is an important aspect of life,

especially for university students who need to sustain both physical well being and mental

stability while being busy. Knowing the eating behavior and dietary intake of the group, the

university can intervene and promote healthy eating choices. (Ashraful, Shahgahan, Asraful,

2018).

"Determinants of eating behavior in university students: a qualitative study using focus

group discussions."

After high school, as independence rises, children must make healthy dietary choices.

Individual variables (e.g. taste preferences, self-discipline, time and convenience), social

networks (e.g. (lack of) parental supervision, friends and classmates), physical environment (e.g.

availability, attractiveness, and pricing of food goods), and macro environment impacted

students (e.g. media and advertising). The associations between variables and university students'

eating behavior appeared to be controlled by residence, student societies, university lifestyle, and

tests. Recommendations for university administrators and researchers include providing

information and advice to enhance healthy food choices and preparation (e.g. via social media),

enhancing self-discipline and self-control, developing time management skills, enhancing social

support, and modifying the subjective and objective campus food environment by e.g. making

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healthy foods price-beneficial and providing vending machines with more healthy products.

( Deliens, Clarys, De Bourdeaudhuij, 2014).

Synthesis

There are several elements that influence kids' eating choices. Others value service quality

over food quality in terms of eating pleasure, however other students value staff demeanor, meal

quality, pricing, cleanliness, responsiveness, and cafeteria environment. It is mostly determined

by the quality of food and beverages. Unhealthy meals are also reported to be the most popular at

most institutions. Students like tasty meals regardless of how unhealthy they are or how much

healthier they are. Taste, value, convenience, and affordability are some of the most critical

aspects in food selection. Students' meal choices are influenced by their restricted budget. They

usually buy items that are both inexpensive and tasty. The most prevalent proposals for

enhancing student dining were lowering the cost and expanding the variety. A research is being

conducted to find strategies to increase healthy eating in university dining halls. Develop a

decision-making tool to help college students make better meal choices that will enhance their

nutritional intake. Residence halls, student groups, and assessments seemed to influence

university students' eating habits. Social media helps a huge amount of people to know the

impact of students choices in food and how it plays a role in their health.

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CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURES

Methodology

Research Design

The researcher used the descriptive design for this study, which is a type of quantitative

research. Descriptive research involves gathering data that describe events and then organizes,

tabulates, depicts, and describes the data collection (Glass & Hopkins, 1984). It often uses visual

aids such as graphs and charts to aid the reader in understanding the data distribution. It also

seeks to characterize a population, condition, or phenomenon in a methodical and accurate

manner. It can answer the questions of what, where, when, and how, but not why. A descriptive

research design can study one or more variables using a range of research methods. Descriptive

research involves gathering data that describe events and then organizes, tabulates, depicts, and

describes the data collection (Glass & Hopkins, 1984). This research aims to acknowledge the

different preferences of the students when it comes to food in our school cafeteria and the impact

of it to our schoolmates in ICA east campus. This research’s benefits is not bounded for students

only, hence it also gives benefits to the school cafeteria’s shopkeepers as well.

Locale of the Study

The study will be conducted on students from Immaculate Conception Academy East Campus,

City of Dasmarinas Cavite, Philippines. The respondents will be surveyed using Google forms.

The researchers will gather twenty (20) Grade 10 students to participate. This is the chosen place

of implementation because it can supply the number of respondents needed to acquire the

information needed for this research. This study will be conducted in the 4th quarter of the

academic year 2021–2022.

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Population and Sampling Technique

In this study, the target population of the researchers will be the grade 10 students from

Immaculate Conception Academy East Campus.

The sampling technique that the researchers will used is the Convenience Sampling method

under non-probability technique where the participants are selected based on their availability

and willingness to participate and help the researchers to easily collect data and convey the

validity of the study.

Data Gathering Procedure

To collect data for the study, the researchers will conduct a quantitative closed form

questionnaire online using the English language to connect with the selected participants to keep

them safe from the ongoing pandemic. To be more specific, the researchers will use a google

form to obatain the data using the guidelines the researchers developed to explore the different

factors affecting the students food preference at the school cafeteria.

Research Instrument

In this study the main instrument is the survey questionnaire which serve as the major source of

data on a particular respondent, and documents such as household record cards, which gather

information on members of the respondent’s household. Since questionnaires are frequently

useful in descriptive research. The researchers will compose it specifically to collect information

about the food preferences of students in school cafeterias.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference:

1. (Delians, Clarys, De Bourdeauhuji & De Forche, 2014) Determinants of eating behaviour in

university students: a qualitative study using focus group discussions.

2. (Kabir, Miah, Islam, Wieringa, 2018) Factors influencing eating behavior and dietary intake

among resident students in a public university in Bangladesh: A qualitative study.

3. (Dorado, Azaña, Viajar, Ramirez, Ferrer, Buyco, Aguila, Capanzana, 2020) Assessing school-

lunch feeding and nutrition education strategy for healthier kids in selected Philippine public

schools.

4. (Magbuhat, Borazon, & Villarino, 2011). Food preferences and dietary intakes of Filipino

adolescents in Metro Manila, The Philippines.

5. (Tam et al, 2017). University students' on-campus food purchasing behaviors, preferences,

and opinions on food availability.

6. (Namoco et al, 2015) Utilizing Optimization Technique in the Formulation and Development

of Snacks for Public Secondary School Students of the Philippines.

7. (Serhan, 2019). The impact of Food Service attributes on customer satisfaction in a rural

university campus environment. International Journal of Food Science.

8. (Hays, J., (2015) Food and the Philippines: Diet, eating customs and cooking for the U.S.

president.

9. (Namoco, 2021) A Decision Support System for Optimizing Nutrient in Daily Lunch Intake

among College Students in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines using Linear Programming.

10. (Andaleeb & Caskey, 2007). Satisfaction with Food Services

Insights from a College Cafeteria.

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11. (Syed Saad Andaleeb PhD, Amy Caskey, Sep 2008) Satisfaction granted by food in school

cafeterias

12. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1997) National Longitudinal Surveys

o collect data for the study, the researchers will conduct a quantitative closed the school cafeteria.

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