On the afternoon of December 18, the Department of Education and Training (DET) of Ho Chi Minh City held a press conference to inform about the content of the linkage to organize educational activities at general education institutions and boarding meals in schools.
Regarding boarding and food safety in schools, Mr. Ho Tan Minh - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Department has issued many documents to strengthen state management, closely coordinate with the Department of Food Safety to inspect and supervise collective kitchen activities in schools.
According to Mr. Minh, the Department of Education and Training clearly stipulates the responsibility of each stage in the chain of receiving, preserving, processing, and dividing meals and service tools, requiring educational institutions to absolutely not use food of unknown origin.
At the same time, schools must develop a school meal menu to ensure reasonable nutrition, suitable for age and publicize it monthly.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education also organizes training on organizing boarding meals for school leaders, medical staff, and staff in charge of boarding at kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools; strengthens propaganda on food selection, preservation, personal hygiene, and prevention of food-related diseases.
"We especially request the coordination of parents in supervising boarding meals. Every year, the establishment of a collective kitchen supervision board at educational institutions must have the participation of parents," Mr. Minh emphasized.
In addition, schools must strictly implement the three-step inspection process, store food samples according to regulations, and strengthen management of the use of milk and dairy products in schools.
The principal is fully responsible for any incidents related to food safety.
According to Mr. Ho Tan Minh, the school must proactively develop and deploy a handling scenario in case of food safety incidents, and coordinate with authorities to promptly fix and report.
The Department of Education and Training will strengthen inspection, review and strictly handle violations, not to affect the reputation of the industry and the rights of students.
Regarding the incident of the boarding meals being reported as being low, which occurred at Trung Vuong High School recently, Mr. Minh said that he had asked the school to report and conduct an inspection.
