School meals need to be safe, but buying food at sky-high prices is unreasonable

Many readers expressed mixed opinions about Kindergarten 14 (Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) buying food at higher prices than supermarkets.

A company's process and packaging of vegetables and fruits before delivering them to Kindergarten 14 - Photo: MG

As Tuoi Tre reported in the article School buys food at 'sky-high' prices, feeds students lots of sugar and salt, the results of monitoring by parents at Kindergarten 14 (Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) showed that all types of food the school bought were 3-4 times higher than supermarket prices.

It is worth mentioning that the amount of sugar and salt that Kindergarten 14 feeds students every day is much higher than the guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City.

The article received many mixed opinions from readers regarding food prices, food safety, and the quality of meals at boarding schools.

"The pressure on the principal is too much"

A reader expressed "feeling sorry for the principal" when seeing that the teaching profession today must both take care of the education career and be a good economist.

"I am a housewife so the price comparison table doesn't seem quite right. For example, Bien Hoa Street, which I usually buy in supermarkets, costs around 40,000 VND. If there is a promotion, it's around 35,000 VND, but I haven't been able to buy 30,000 VND in supermarkets.

Cooking oil is the same, 58,000 VND is the supermarket's promotional price.

We should have a more impartial view so that teachers have more time and mind to focus on education. Compared to what teachers worry about for their children, that is nothing" - this reader wrote.

Reader Huy said the school menu is very rich. The 8kg of sugar is used to cook lunch, snacks, and make fruit juice to boost the children's resistance.

Other foods are cleaning products, boneless fish, eel... the same.

Food is delivered from 5am to prepare for cooking, paid at the end of the month, ensuring food hygiene and safety for the children.

The company is responsible when something happens to the school. You can't buy it from each place or supermarket because if there is poisoning, which company will be responsible?

This reader concluded "too much pressure on the principal"!

Reader Khoa also said that snakehead fish and red tilapia at the school price are fillets, not whole fish. At the market, buy whole fish for 60,000 VND/kg, each fish is about 1.8kg, cleaned, filleted and left with 800g.

And many readers have argued back.

According to reader Dung Ngoc, the price of cooking oil in supermarkets is around 30,000 - 40,000 VND/liter. White sugar is not priced at 40,000 VND/kg.

Reader Dat believes that food prices will fluctuate, but retail prices are always higher than wholesale prices, or long-term supply contracts like schools, companies, etc. Most orders that are maintained under annual or monthly contracts have much better prices than retail prices.

Reader Dung asked: Dragon fruit does not need to be pre-processed, but why is it 4 times more expensive than in supermarkets?

According to a reader named Cuong, "high prices for meat and fish are considered to ensure food safety. Sugar, salt, cooking oil, fish sauce... can be bought at the supermarket, so why does the company have to provide high prices?"

"Supermarket prices are high, the price this school buys is several times higher."

Why not auction off the food supplier?

Regarding the quality of the school lunch, reader Cauvongxanh is worried that "there is no nutrition for the children, but the amount of sugar processed daily is like cooking sweet soup.

The amount of salt and fish sauce is no different from that used to marinate dried fish or make fish sauce. Why do preschool children use so much sugar and salt every day?

"We want the young generation to eat nutritious food to improve their height like other countries in the region, but how can this type of meal meet that demand?" - account truo****@gmail.com commented.

To ensure that children have quality, safe meals, reader Hanh Nguyen believes that if all schools organized an auction to provide food for children, nothing would happen.

Reader Xuan Lam suggested that each education department should have an auction program to select a food supplier for all schools in the district, from preschool, primary, secondary school...

This is the fairest way to avoid each school having a different price and quality while all students pay the same for meals.

Reader Trinh Ngoc Kim suggested that three parents whose children eat at school should take turns serving meals to their children. Sign a direct contract with the supermarket system to supply food.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bua-an-ban-tru-can-an-toan-nhung-mua-thuc-pham-gia-tren-troi-la-khong-hop-ly-20241031161046258.htm