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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In Chernivtsi, the police opened a criminal case after a complaint about the organization of meals for students at Lyceum No. 9. This concerns the same incident that, at the beginning of September, circulated on social networks, showing photos of school meals, including bread, tea, and carrots. This is reported by Glavkom with reference to a comment from the press secretary of the National Police of the Chernivtsi region, Karolina Marysheva, to Suspline Chernivtsi.
Law enforcement officers are investigating possible violations of sanitary rules and standards regarding the prevention of infectious diseases and mass poisoning. A pre-trial investigation is currently underway.
The penalty under the article provides a fine from 17 to 51 thousand hrynias, or probationary supervision, restriction of freedom, or imprisonment for up to three years.
At the same time, the contractor’s advisor, Vasyl Patsarnyuk, who is responsible for meals at the lyceum, told Suspline that the company has not yet been notified about the opening of the case. According to him, the contractor does not see a criminal act in their actions.
“If a criminal case is opened, it is opened for a specific fact. Then they conduct a preliminary investigation and decide whether there are grounds to continue the case. In this situation, they are analyzing it now,” Patsarnyuk said.
At the same time, he stressed that, in his opinion, the proceedings do not indicate the existence of an offense by the contractor.
This is not that a case was opened against us, but on the fact. And if we consider the fact itself, is giving a carrot to a child a crime?” Patsarnyuk asks.
As a reminder, 3 in September Glavkom wrote about the scandal with school meals in Chernivtsi. Then photos of a school lunch circulating on social networks showed bread, tea, and carrots. It was published by a Chernivtsi resident, Leonid Prokopchuk, who sarcastically commented on the menu offered to students.
Photo of the lunch that children at Lyceum No. 9 in Chernivtsi received
Photo: Leonid Prokopchuk's Facebook page
The situation was reacted to by Ruslan Osipenko, head of the Chernivtsi Regional State Administration. He announced an official inquiry into the specific incident and ordered unscheduled monitoring visits to educational institutions of Bukovina.
“I consider the neglect of the quality and safety of children’s meals unacceptable! Therefore, I immediately initiated an official inquiry into the specific incident and ordered to start unscheduled monitoring visits to educational institutions of Bukovina,” Osipenko wrote.
He also emphasized that they would check not only the documents but also what food the children actually receive, and those responsible for any violations must be held accountable.
The Department of Education of the Chernivtsi City Council said that they had contacted the contractor and the school administration.
Meals received by students at Lyceum No. 9 in Chernivtsi
photo: Oksana Prodan
“Such appearance and quality of meals are categorically unacceptable to us, and food should be served properly. Our children will surely receive meals in the proper form,” the department said.
At the same time, the department explained that after the introduction of free meals for all students, the load on school kitchens increased significantly. According to the department, more than 26 thousand children were fed in schools the day before, whereas last year daily was about 8–10 thousand.
We remind you that a similar situation occurred in Zhytomyr region. After a photo of a school lunch from Lyceum No. 19 in Zhytomyr was published and sparked discussion on social networks, the regional authorities decided to check the organization of meals. The head of the regional state administration, Vitaliy Bunychko, said that the food shown in the photo was indeed served to children that day, but the portion could have been incomplete.
Subsequently, a working group was created in the region to check the organization of hot meals for students 1–11 of classes.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Хліб, чай і сира морква: після скандалу зі шкільним харчуванням у Чернівцях відкрито кримінальне провадження". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZmiOne.
