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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection analyzed how meals are organized in 567 schools where children in grades 1–11 receive free hot meals. The agency reported the results of the inspections on 11 September. In total, control measures are planned to cover about 10 thousand general secondary education institutions where student meals are organized.
This was reported by the head of the State Service, Serhii Tkachuk. In the area of food safety, no violations were recorded in about half of the schools inspected, while separate deficiencies were found in 293 institutions.
Most often the problems relate to temperature control in refrigeration equipment, separate storage of products, application of HACCP procedures, handling of food waste, staff hygiene, and pest control measures. For additional laboratory control, 645 swab and raw material samples have already been collected.
More than 80% of the inspected institutions comply with sanitary legislation requirements. At the same time, issues requiring correction were recorded in 104 educational institutions — in particular, adherence to the approved four-week menu and nutrition standards, staff hygiene, medical examinations, storage of daily samples, and the technology of food preparation.
A separate focus of the joint work is exactly what children receive and according to which menu. Specialists have already reviewed 276 four-week seasonal menus, 9 of which were sent back for revision. Another 707 samples were taken for testing of drinking water, determination of the energy value of finished dishes, and examination of environmental objects.
It is worth noting that the state finances the cost of products for school meals: for one primary school pupil, 50 hryvnias per day are provided, and for pupils of basic and specialized secondary education — 60 hryvnias.
Speeding up menu review and strengthening control
Territorial bodies of the State Service have been instructed to process menus within two working days and provide prompt feedback so that educational institutions do not wait weeks for a response. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the State Service are strengthening operational interaction so that an algorithm for correcting each identified deficiency is clear.
Inspections in the regions continue, and the next step is prompt elimination of identified deficiencies and control to ensure they are not repeated. The joint result of the work of the Ministry of Education and Science, the State Service, founders, and the institutions themselves should be measured not by the number of inspections conducted, but by the fact that a child receives safe, high-quality, and balanced meals at school every day.
Earlier, Informator reported that from 1 September all pupils in 1–11 grades of municipal schools in Ukraine who study in-person or in a mixed format received free hot meals. The decision covered about 3 million children across the country, and the state additionally allocated over 7,4 billion hryvnias in subsidy funds for September–November. We also reported that the Antimonopoly Committee found violations in the order of the Lviv Regional State Administration regarding maximum retail markups on food in educational institutions, which created discriminatory conditions for private businesses.
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