Students continuously suffer from food poisoning, parents are "restless"

Monitor every meal of your child

Recently, many cases of food poisoning among students have left parents "unsettled". Specifically, on the afternoon of September 23, 12 students from Kien Hai Secondary and High School (Kien Giang) were hospitalized due to suspected food poisoning.

On October 9-10, 40 students at Lao Cai College were hospitalized after eating at the cafeteria, showing symptoms of stomachache, diarrhea, and vomiting.

On the same day, October 10, Le Quy Don High School (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) recorded 6 students with stomachaches and vomiting after a lunch. 5 students were taken to Saigon General Hospital, the remaining student rested in the school's medical room.

The students’ health is now stable, and the schools are working with authorities to investigate the cause. However, this is a warning about food hygiene in schools. Now, in addition to the fees at the beginning of the year, parents have another worry about their children’s meals.

Many parents ask their children to take photos of each meal at school for inspection (Photo: NVCC).

Having a child in grade 11 and staying at the boarding school, Ms. D.T., District 8, Ho Chi Minh City, is very worried when seeing many cases of students getting food poisoning after eating at school. She often reminds her child to carefully observe the food portion and report to the teacher when seeing unusual signs for timely handling.

For peace of mind, this parent told her child to take a photo of their daily meals for easy checking and observation. Ms. D.T. hopes that the school will cooperate with reputable food suppliers to ensure nutritious and safe meals for students.

Sharing the same sentiment, Mr. Le Trung Kien, a parent with a 6th grader in Tan Phu district, also lamented: "I feel at ease every day when I see my child coming home from school. I know that schools have taken the initiative to ensure the safety of students, but parents cannot be 100% assured when many food poisoning cases still occur."

Like Ms. T., Mr. Kien often reminds his children to look carefully at the food to see if it is safe or not, to smell the food before eating to see if it is spoiled or not, and then start eating.

"Every day when he comes home, he tells me how the food in class was today, how salty or sweet it was. When he says the food is delicious today, I will text the teacher to thank him, but when the food is not to his liking, I will text him to ask him to pay more attention. I think food safety is something that schools and parents need to pay special attention to at all times and in all places," Mr. Kien added.

Similarly, Mr. LK, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City said that because his house is quite far away and both parents work, he lets his child eat lunch at school for convenience.

He said that parents do not let their children eat out because they want to ensure hygiene and feel more secure when the school is in charge. However, through following the news, he saw many cases of students vomiting, having stomach aches, having to be hospitalized, affecting the children's health.

Therefore, Mr. LK hopes that schools will learn from experience, strictly control hygiene, and have a process for providing clean food to protect students, so that parents will have one less worry when sending their children to school every day.

Control every bunch of vegetables, every pound of meat

Ho Chi Minh City regularly inspects school meals to ensure student safety (Photo: NVCC).

Regarding the organization of boarding, Mr. Hoang Cong Phu, Vice Principal of Vinh Loc B High School, Ho Chi Minh City, said that currently, there are more than 1,200 students eating at the dining hall, more than 300 students eating at the canteen or preparing their own meals outside. With a large number of students eating, the school must ensure hygiene.

According to him, first of all, schools need to choose to cooperate with reputable units, have legal licenses and organize supervision of processing procedures to ensure food safety and hygiene.

"From facilities, equipment, space, cooking utensils to food trays, spoons and chopsticks, everything must be strictly ensured. This is a prerequisite for survival," he affirmed.

On the school side, he said, the boarding management board must be tightly structured, organized with training, and equipped with solid expertise. Especially those in charge of food supervision.

"Records, invoices, and documents on ingredients and food origins must be transparent and complete. A bunch of vegetables or a kilo of meat must be input-controlled and imported from reputable sources. If we are negligent, the risk of food poisoning will be very high," said Mr. Phu.

Besides, according to him, the storage of fresh food, dry ingredients, vegetables and fruits also needs to ensure time and temperature, closely following the food safety and hygiene regulations of the authorities.

"Cooks in the kitchen must have regular health check-ups, have food safety training certificates, and wear proper manners and clothing. From raw ingredients to students' food trays is a long process, requiring meticulousness and attention to detail in every step," he said.

Therefore, he emphasized, schools need to set goals for improvement each year, learning from actual cases that have occurred. Through evaluation and feedback from students and parents, schools need to tighten processes and make changes to improve quality.

According to statistics, Ho Chi Minh City currently has more than 2,400 schools and nearly 2,000 private independent childcare groups. Due to the large number of students, ensuring food safety in schools has always been a key task of the city's education sector for many years.

At the beginning of the school year, the Department of Food Safety (DFS) of Ho Chi Minh City issued a plan to inspect compliance with food safety laws in collective kitchens, canteens, and food services in schools in Ho Chi Minh City.

Specifically, the inspection teams of the Department of Food Safety will coordinate with representatives of the Department of Education and Training and representatives of local authorities to conduct inspections at collective kitchens, canteens, and food services in schools. If necessary, the inspection team may invite relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals to coordinate. The inspection period is from September 15, 2024 to October 31, 2024.

The inspection focuses on the following issues: Business registration certificate; certificate of food safety qualified facility; testing of water used in processing; checking of origin, source, sales contract, purchase invoice, registration file for declaration, self-declaration of products, documents related to raw materials, food, food additives; book of implementation of 3-step food inspection regime; conditions to ensure food safety at the facility...

Ky Huong

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/hoc-sinh-lien-tuc-ngo-doc-thuc-pham-phu-huynh-dung-ngoi-khong-yen-20241014094306462.htm