Increase control and ensure food safety in schools

One of the concerns of parents in the new school year 2025-2026 is the issue of food safety (FS) in schools. Especially in Dong Nai, there is a large number of students and many public and private schools are implementing boarding education. Therefore, functional agencies and schools need to promote solutions to ensure FHS, prevent food poisoning cases in schools early from the beginning of the school year.

Recently, in some provinces and cities across the country, there have been a number of food poisoning cases due to students eating lunch at school or buying food in front of the school gate. Most recently, on April 9, after having lunch at Vo Thi Sau Primary School ( Ho Chi Minh City), more than 20 students showed symptoms of stomachache, vomiting, fever, diarrhea and were taken to the hospital by their families. Vo Thi Sau Primary School has a contract with an industrial catering unit to serve meals for boarding students.

In Dong Nai , although there have been no cases of food poisoning in schools in the past, the risk of food poisoning is still latent. According to the assessment of the authorities, the work of ensuring food safety in school canteens has had many positive changes, but there are still some problems such as: some schools still lack facilities to preserve food, the storage of food samples or training for staff is still perfunctory. Some places depend on ready-made meals with many risks in transportation... In addition, the situation of selling food that does not ensure food safety in front of some school gates also makes parents worried...

Therefore, in this new school year, it is very necessary to strengthen measures to manage collective kitchens, school canteens, and establishments providing meals to schools to limit the risk of food poisoning. First of all, it is necessary to focus on propaganda and guidance for collective kitchens and food service establishments to strictly control the origin and source of food ingredients, ensure hygiene during the process of preparing, processing, and transporting food, food safety conditions, 3-step food inspection, and food sample storage... Next, it is necessary to strengthen inspection, control, and strictly handle violations related to food safety in schools.

To do so, in addition to strengthening the responsibility of the authorities, there is also the responsibility of schools and parents in the management, coordination and supervision of collective kitchens and school canteens. It is necessary to promote the supervisory role of the parent-teacher association, considering it the "eyes and ears" of the community in protecting children's health. In addition, propaganda work must be focused on. Organize regular training for kitchen staff, guide teachers, students and parents to identify the risk of food poisoning; promptly report on food safety-related problems in schools so that schools can take timely measures to ensure the health of students; contribute to building a safe, healthy and trustworthy educational environment.

Dang Ngoc

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/202509/tang-kiem-soat-dam-bao-an-toan-thuc-pham-hoc-duong-c0c2b38/