Four more schools in Thu Duc City stop providing meals

Ho Chi Minh City Four schools in Thu Duc City have temporarily suspended boarding meals after parents at Phu Huu Primary School discovered spoiled chicken at the food supplier.

On the morning of October 28, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City, said that four schools stopped providing boarding meals from October 30, including Truong Thanh Primary School, Truong Thanh Secondary School, Phuoc Thanh Primary School, and Long Thanh My Primary School. All four schools use industrial meals provided by a company located in Long Thanh My Ward, Thu Duc City.

According to Ms. Hien, before deciding to temporarily suspend the boarding meals, schools consulted with parents. While looking for a new meal provider, parents can pick up their children at noon or let students bring their own lunch to school. An estimated 4,000 students are affected.

Spoiled, rotten chicken was discovered by parents in the freezer of the food supplier on the morning of October 25. Photo: Provided by parents — Spoiled, rotten chicken was discovered by parents in the freezer of the food supplier on the morning of October 25. Photo: *Provided by parents*

This action was initiated after parents of Phu Huu Primary School discovered rotten, blackened chicken meat and bones in the freezer of the above-mentioned food supplier on October 25. In the spice and dry goods area, there were also some cans of chili sauce that were uncovered, smelled bad, and had an unknown expiration date.

The catering unit explained that the chicken meat and bones were waste after processing and should not be used to cook for students. However, parents said that storing spoiled chicken meat and bones with other foods was unacceptable and unsafe for food hygiene.

Phu Huu Primary School and parents met and agreed to suspend the meal supply contract with this unit, temporarily stopping organizing boarding meals from October 26 until another partner is found.

Since the beginning of the school year, the quality of the students' meals has received attention from parents. In Ho Chi Minh City, parents of Phuoc Long B Kindergarten (Thu Duc City) complained that the school bought expensive food, worrying about their children's food portions. In Hanoi, Yen Nghia Secondary School was accused of having a meager lunch or that many students of Thanh Cong B Primary School had intestinal infections after their meals.

Currently, the organization of school canteens is carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Health, and local departments and branches. Depending on their conditions, schools can organize their own kitchens or hire outside catering units to deliver meals.

In particular, the semi-boarding kitchen area must be arranged according to the one-way principle, in which 3 areas: receiving, preparing food, processing food, cooked food are divided separately. Food and raw materials must have a food hygiene and safety certificate, be checked for quality, freshness, and temperature. Cooked food samples must be kept for 24 hours in the kitchen to serve the cause tracing if an incident occurs.

If outsourced, the contracted units must have a food safety certificate to provide food for students. Food transportation and sample storage are controlled similarly to cooking at school.

Le Nguyen

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