On September 16, information from the Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vu Thi Hien Hanh just signed an urgent official dispatch requesting departments, agencies, branches and People's Committees of communes and wards to strengthen the assurance of safety and quality of boarding and semi-boarding meals in educational institutions.
Accordingly, the Department of Education and Training coordinates with the Department of Health and localities to review the implementation of regulations on food safety at schools; guide educational institutions to control meal organization conditions, quantity, quality of meals and food delivery and receipt.
Schools must develop menus and diets that are sufficient in energy, balanced in nutrition, suitable for age, regional conditions and food costs; promote the application of technology in traceability and management of suppliers.
The province requests to strengthen periodic and unscheduled inspections, especially for units supplying food to many schools, large numbers of students and high-risk areas.
Units that do not meet the requirements will be handled, suspended or replaced.
People's Committees of communes and wards are responsible for organizing boarding and semi-boarding meals in the area.
The selection of suppliers must be public and transparent, putting food safety, quality, nutrition and traceability first, not choosing based only on low prices.
Localities must also check the origin, quality of food, processing conditions, preservation, transportation, delivery and storage of food samples.
The menu, supplier and food source must be made public for parents to participate in monitoring.
When food safety incidents occur, units must promptly organize emergency care, treatment, trace the origin and determine the cause.
