Typhoon Aftermath: Exchange Ensures Safety of School Meals Amid Warehouse Damage

CAMP MARKET, South Korea – The Exchange is all in to ensure the safety of food provided to school children at Department of Defense Education Activity schools and diners at Exchange restaurants.

Typhoon Lingling damaged the Exchange’s Korea Distribution Center, including freezers used for the DODEA school meal program and Exchange restaurants. The Exchange is working solutions to ensure the safety and quality of all its food product.

“Everything that’s reaching our customers and students is safe,” said Col. Scott Maskery, the Exchange’s Pacific Region commander. “Despite the challenges the typhoon damage has raised, the Exchange’s mission of feeding our Warfighters and their children nutritious and high-quality meals remains uncompromised.”

Any affected product is being disposed of following safety protocol while new shipments of food are being rerouted to other Exchange storage locations in the region.

Maskery also thanked the Eighth Army, which has provided critical support to the Exchange in the aftermath of the storm damage.

The Exchange’s school meal program, which serve 2.5 million meals each year to service members’ children overseas, is expected to continue without disruption.

Children at a DoD school in Munich, Germany, get nutritious lunches, 1981.

Exchange History FunFact!

1955

The year the Army & Air Force Exchange Service provided the first lunches to schoolchildren, at a DoD school in the United Kingdom. In 1980, the Exchange was designated the school feeding authority for the Army and Air Force.

Today, the Exchange serves 2.5 million school meals annually in overseas schools.