Efforts to control the quality of boarding meals

SGGP 11/06/2023 05:44

After a series of schools in Thu Duc City (HCMC) temporarily stopped organizing meals for students due to the discovery of spoiled food at the food supplier, high schools in HCMC have increased supervision of the quality of meals to ensure the safety and health of students.

Enhance the role of parents' coordination

Since the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, Nguyen Dinh Chieu Primary School (Binh Thanh District) has made public the boarding menu every day of the week. Despite the constant rise in food prices, the school tries to maintain a diverse menu with 4 days of rice with main dishes and soup; every Thursday, it alternates between water dishes such as pho, hu tieu, bun bo, banh mi xiu mai, etc. For afternoon meals, the menu ensures that there is no overlap between school weeks, and the names of all suppliers are made public for parents to monitor.

Similarly, at Nguyen Truong To Primary School (District 4), Mr. Phan Anh Tuan, Principal of the school, said that the school board coordinates with medical staff and representatives of parents to monitor the quality of meals. The inspection is carried out in two forms: regular and surprise, and the daily menu is made public so that parents can know and follow.

Last week, Phuoc Thanh Primary School (Thu Duc City) was one of six schools in Thu Duc City (HCMC) that temporarily stopped providing meals for students after parents complained about spoiled food in the cold storage of the food supplier.

Parents supervise their children's meals at Nguyen Truong To Primary School (District 4, HCMC)

Ms. Le Thi Kim Ngan, Principal of the school, informed that the school is evaluating the capacity profiles of 8 other meal suppliers. The profile evaluation focuses on requirements such as: food hygiene and safety certification, geographical distance from the kitchen to the school, and experience in organizing meals for boarding students. After reviewing the profiles, the school will select 3 units that best meet the above requirements to directly learn about the cooking process. It is expected that the last selected unit will provide trial meals, after a period of time, if the quality requirements are met, the school will sign an official contract.

At the secondary level, from mid-October 2023, Nguyen Thi Dieu High School (District 3) announced the coordination between the school and parents in managing and supervising the quality of meals for boarding students.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuong Minh, Vice Principal of Nguyen Thi Dieu High School, parents can come to school any day of the week to directly observe their children's lunch with the school. If parents have any comments about the boarding meals, they can directly report them to the boarding management department or through the homeroom teacher to promptly answer questions. At Le Trong Tan High School (Tan Phu District), from November 1, the canteen (the unit responsible for providing lunch for students) has publicly announced the daily menu for students to choose from. In particular, every Saturday, the canteen increases lunch service for grade 12 students to ensure that they can continue studying at school.

Reviewing the implementation of Resolution 04

According to Dr. Dang Ngoc Hung, Director of the Institute of Nutrition Research and Consulting, if the school does not have the conditions to organize a kitchen at school, it can sign a contract with an outside food supplier but must fully comply with legal documents as prescribed, ensuring 24-hour sample storage of all dishes during the day to serve the purpose of tracing the cause in case of a food safety incident.

When inspecting and supervising the kitchen, it is necessary to pay attention to issues such as: food origin, food hygiene and safety procedures for those directly preparing and processing food, facilities, processing tools, water sources. In particular, the menu for students needs to limit the use of packaged and processed foods such as sausages, ham, pork rolls, canned foods, etc.

Students of Nguyen Thi Dieu High School (District 3, HCMC) have lunch at school.

Mr. Ho Tan Minh, Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that currently, many opinions propose to increase the maximum collection level of 35,000 VND/student/day for the boarding meal fee as stipulated in Resolution 04 issued by the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City on the collection items, collection levels and revenue and expenditure management mechanism for services serving and supporting educational activities at public educational institutions in the area.

A representative of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City affirmed that schools must comply with the issued regulations, and no unit is allowed to collect additional fees or fees outside of the regulations. Schools that do not have a boarding kitchen or canteen can serve lunch to students but are still subject to the school's supervision regarding the price, quality and food safety of the meals.

Previously, the issuance of the collection levels in Resolution 04 had been widely consulted with educational institutions, based on the statistical content of the last 3 school years. The education and training sector will synthesize the implementation of Resolution 04 to continue advising and proposing implementation plans in the coming school years.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/no-luc-kiem-soat-chat-luong-bua-an-ban-tru-post712892.html