Pyeongtaek Selected for Ministry of Agriculture's 'Milk Voucher Pilot Program'

[Suwon Ilbo=Lee Su-won] Pyeongtaek City announced on the 17th that it will implement a 'free milk voucher pilot program' starting in March to support vulnerable students during their growth years in purchasing white milk, sterilized milk, processed milk, and other dairy products.

The milk voucher program is an initiative by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in which 10,000 won per month is provided via a cash card in the form of vouchers that can be used at home, replacing the previously supplied free milk through school milk lunch programs for vulnerable students.

While the existing school milk lunch program involved schools collectively purchasing and distributing milk, the milk voucher program allows eligible students to directly purchase domestically produced dairy products at convenience stores (CU, GS25, Ministop, Seven Eleven, Emart24) and National Agricultural Cooperative Federation Hanaro Marts. (Products marked with high caffeine content and other dairy products such as ice cream are excluded.)

Participating students are ages 6 to 18 with addresses in Pyeongtaek and include approximately 5,000 children from households receiving basic livelihood security, low-income families, single-parent families, persons with disabilities, and families of national veterans. Starting from February, students can apply for card issuance at eup/myeon/dong administrative welfare centers and begin using the milk voucher (card) from March.

A city official stated, "As other cities and counties have shown high satisfaction with the pilot program, we expect positive results in Pyeongtaek as well," adding, "We anticipate that issues arising from existing free school milk programs—such as identity exposure for vulnerable students and limited choices in dairy products—will be resolved."