Healthy food for the back-to-school season

Safe food is becoming a major concern in the community as the back-to-school season begins. The need to ensure nutritious and safe meals for students worries many parents, especially in the context of contaminated food and toxic chemicals still appearing on the market and being difficult to control.

• Bringing clean food to every family meal.
• Stronger penalties are needed to prevent unsafe food.
• Food management right from the production stage.

In the hustle and bustle of life, many parents choose to feed their children pre-prepared meals from restaurants and roadside stalls before school – places where food safety and hygiene are almost completely neglected. Even more concerning, in the communal kitchens of kindergartens and boarding schools, the quality control of incoming food such as meat, eggs, fish, and vegetables still relies primarily on "trust" between the supplier and the school, rather than being clearly inspected by specialized agencies. This loophole allows contaminated food to easily infiltrate students' daily meals.

Processed foods, while convenient for consumers, contain high levels of sugar, salt, and other preservatives, which are detrimental to health, especially for young children.

“To provide daily meals for the children, we mainly have long-term contracts with some local slaughterhouses and some farmers in the commune who we know rarely use pesticides or growth hormones in their farming and livestock raising. The assessment of food safety and hygiene is mainly based on ‘trust,’ because honestly, it’s very difficult for us to know what constitutes clean food…,” shared Ms. Tran Thi Trinh, a kindergarten teacher at Khanh Hung Commune Kindergarten, with concern.

Many food products today are not produced and processed according to proper hygiene and safety standards. This is one of the risks that can cause food poisoning for consumers.

According to health experts, consuming foods with excessive additives, preservatives, or residues of antibiotics and pesticides can lead to many unpredictable consequences in the long run, especially for young children during their developmental years, such as: acute poisoning (which can lead to death if not treated promptly); cancer; and even infertility.

Dr. Huynh Thanh Su, Head of the Department of Environmental Health, School Health and Occupational Diseases at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) of Ca Mau province, stated: “Children regularly consuming contaminated food, especially food containing high levels of toxins and heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury, can damage the liver, kidneys, and nervous system. Furthermore, it can cause anemia, bone marrow failure, and leukopenia. More seriously, it can even lead to cancer. Because young children have relatively weak immune systems, consuming contaminated food weakens their resistance, making them more susceptible to illness than adults, especially certain incurable and chronic diseases.”

A supplementary meal, but still ensuring adequate nutrition and food safety for kindergarten children at Khanh Hung Commune Kindergarten.

In recent times, the country has recorded numerous cases of food poisoning, leading to heartbreaking consequences. However, food safety control seems to remain too lax. Public awareness campaigns are necessary, but merely advocating, advising, or issuing warnings as administrative penalties is insufficient to eradicate unsafe food. The fundamental solution must begin with a strict and rigorous inspection and control mechanism right from the initial stages, along with improving the ethics and responsibility of food businesses. Simultaneously, independent inspections of school cafeterias need to be strengthened; relying solely on "trust" as a measure of food safety is unacceptable.

                                                                                      Phuong Vu

Source: https://baocamau.vn/thuc-pham-sach-cho-mua-tuu-truong-a122152.html