After the scandal in Chernivtsi, the government will check what children are actually being fed in schools

Koretsky instructed that inspections be carried out across Ukraine.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Koretsky instructed an immediate inspection of the quality of meal organization for students in grades 1–11 at schools. The decision was made after a scandal in Chernivtsi, where a photo of a school lunch with a raw carrot, a piece of cottage-cheese casserole, bread and a plum appeared on social media.

Koretsky instructed the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection to carry out on-site inspections together with the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Economy and Environment, and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.

"The state has provided the necessary funding so that children in every single school without exception receive quality lunches," the prime minister emphasized.

According to him, all identified problems must be eliminated without delay. The Ministry of Education received a separate instruction — the agency must collect parents' feedback on the organization of school meals and ensure responses to their appeals.

The day before, a photo of school meals at one of the educational institutions in Chernivtsi was published on social media: a whole raw carrot, a cottage-cheese casserole, bread, plums and tea.

The author of the photo, Vitaliy Oliynyk, asked whether children are being fed the same way in other regions.

Head of the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration Ruslan Osypenko said he had ordered an investigation into the case, as well as monitoring visits to other educational institutions in the region.

The new school year brought a major change to schools: free hot meals for all students — from 1-th to 11-th grade. The initiative is sponsored by First Lady Olena Zelenska, and the government is allocating 14,4 billion hryvnias for it. But between the ideal and reality are very down-to-earth problems.

How do you feed three million children amid air raid alerts, ongoing blackouts and a shortage of space in school cafeterias? And most importantly — won't these state billions turn into food going straight into waste buckets?

Read about the real cost of a school lunch, the "emergency menu" in shelters, and bureaucracy in an interview with ZN.UA with the head of the Kyiv City State Administration Department of Education and Science, Olena Fidanyan: "Porridge, blackout and 60 hryvnias. How schools will feed all children from 1 September."