Food for children: Why Parents Are Denied Controlling School Canteens

This document, which prevents parents from controlling the nutrition of children in schools and kindergartens, has already caused a wave of indignation. Why it appeared exactly right now, Novye Izvestia figured out.

Irina Mishina

Recall: not so long ago, the Rospotrebnadzor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory reported that in the Soviet and Oktyabrsky districts in school canteens, more than 100 children aged 7 to 14 were poisoned en masse. Students from 27 schools of the city were injured. They were diagnosed with pseudotuberculosis. The alleged factor of poisoning is vegetable salads made in violation of the technological process. In relation to the food organizer, checks were carried out with laboratory tests of products, equipment, clothes. Violations of the requirements of sanitary legislation were revealed.

Mass poisoning of schoolchildren has swept across the country recently. The last cases were recorded in Dagestan, Smolensk region, Moscow region. But the scandal in Krasnoyarsk reached all the way to the high Kremlin offices. Even Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin spoke on this matter, who called this unacceptable. Emotions of the prime minister can be understood: the federal authorities expected a promising effect from the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin to make meals for elementary schools free. But in some places it turned into massive poisoning. And after childhood poisoning followed... repression against parents.

The scandalous document regarding the denial of the child's legal representatives "in the premises for eating" appeared shortly after reports of poisoning. On April 27, it was announced on his Telegram channel by the First Deputy Minister of Education Dmitry Glushko. Judging by the text, this document has already been approved at a meeting of the Operational Headquarters of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation for the organization of hot meals. In short, it virtually completely prevents parents from accessing school and kindergarten canteens to control the quality of children's nutrition. And then suddenly something happened that the Ministry of Education did not expect - a storm of indignation and indignation on the part of the parents, who reminded the officials of all children's sores and poisoning. After the indignation of the parents, the deputy. Minister removed the document from the telegram channel, removed negative comments and completely closed the opportunity for users to leave new comments. This indirectly suggests that education officials are not interested in adequate dialogue with parents and in receiving feedback from them.

It all started with the fact that due to coronavirus restrictions, the passage to schools was closed to parents. These restrictions were a great excuse to override children's nutritional controls. No, parents can formally enter the school grounds. But for this you need to have a medical book, a negative PCR for covid-19, the results of thermometry and examination by a health worker. Also, to enter the school cafeteria, you must submit an application to visit the school with the Governing Council and receive a response to this application within 30 days. And here there are several "buts". Firstly, according to the requirements of the new SanPiN 2.3./2.4.3590-20 "Sanitary and Epidemiological Requirements for the Organization of Public Catering", as well as GOSTs for public catering services, the school canteen is a public catering enterprise - the same as restaurants, bars , cafes, which are currently open to the general public, without restrictions on the age and location of these enterprises. This means that the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation has decided to close with its "Order" the right of parents to enter a catering establishment. The ministry subjected additional quarantine measures to parents living with their children. Why don't children need to take a certificate and PCR smears to enter the school cafeteria, while parents can only be in this cafeteria with a medical book, smears and after examination? By the way, on the territory of Russia there is not a single catering enterprise, the dining room of which could be entered with such restrictions.

“The Order...” developed by the ministry threatens that parents - the last controlling “body” - may be thoughtlessly excluded from public control due to excessive restrictive measures, and children will be left alone with the social catering business. Who needs parents not to be in the school cafeteria? The answer is obvious: outsourcing organizations making a profit on poor quality school meals. And also schools, so that parents do not interfere with principals to live in peace”, - writes expert Daria Burlakova in the telegram channel“ Facts without censorship”.

By the way, the publication of the document "The procedure for access of legal representatives of students to the premises for eating" was preceded by several scandals related to school meals. One of them took place in the Moscow State Budgetary Educational Institution “School No. 338 named after Hero of the Soviet Union A.F. Avdeyev”. There were revealed numerous violations, which the parents sent to the headmaster. After that, the director forbade them to visit the school canteens. According to the parents, for almost two years, the school director, Maria Petrovna Andrianova, did not want to create a commission that would control the quality of food in the school cafeteria. However, there were more than enough reasons for the creation of such a commission. They consisted not only in the fact that in the educational complex such a commission should be according to the legislation, but also in the quality of food.

The Commission for Monitoring the Organization and Quality of Food appeared at School No. 338 only on March 2, 2021, after numerous complaints and complaints from parents to the Moscow Department of Education. The first check at the school took place on March 17. The inspectors found that the buffet worked without documentation, there was no refrigerator in this buffet, and the products were mostly high in sugar (chocolate, juices, sugary drinks). “The headmaster approves the buffet menu, but why the headmaster chose such an assortment instead of healthy products that you can have a quick bite to eat, we do not know. Parents were not surveyed”, - say members of the Commission . But the list of violations did not end there. Here is an excerpt from the inspection report dated March 17, 2021: “According to visual assessment, no more than 30% of students and teachers washed their hands... Students of the 3rd grade went to the dining room alone, took bread from the tables... trays with dirty dishes and leftover food were not touched or eaten only slightly. Several reasons can be distinguished: between the end of breakfast and the beginning of lunch (for the first parallel of classes) the interval is 2 hours 40 minutes and the children may not be hungry; little time for the meal itself, i.e. the children might not have time to eat, and left hungry. The commission also found that the children received portions of different quality and weight. For example, the plates of the 1st grade students were full, the portions contained more meat than the portions for the 3rd grade. As for the menu, the members of the Nutrition Commission found that the main menu was not agreed and approved in accordance with clause 8.1.3 of SanPiN 2.3 / 2.4.3590-20. And the menu and the call schedule posted at the school are not fully visible. Also, according to the members of the commission, information about the service provider Saturn-ShBS-3 LLC was not provided in the dining room, in violation of the law “On Protection of Consumer Rights”.

The members of the commission recorded these and other violations and remarks in the inspection report and sent it to the administration of school # 338 along with their proposals. However, instead of a constructive dialogue, the school authorities forbade parents to check the canteens. Olga Maslova, a member of the school's governing council, chairman of the Commission for the Control and Quality of Nutrition, sent a letter dated March 25 to all members of the Commission stating that the school director prohibits inspections. “We were informed that the director signed an order prohibiting visits and inspections of the canteen, citing coronavirus infection and a ban on mass events. Although today there are no documents of Rospotrebnadzor, where these restrictions are prescribed for the Commission on Nutrition, ”the parents say. On April 15, the parents met with the chairman of the commission for quality control and catering in educational institutions of EKS RO Natalia Anpetkova. And on April 17, a meeting of the Nutrition Commission of School # 338 was held. “The chairman of the commission, Olga Maslova, said that on the basis of Anpetkova’s demand, we must vote“ for ”the amendment of the verification certificate. The commission includes only 4 parents, the rest of the commission members are school employees. As a result, those responsible for nutrition, who were members of the commission, voted “for”. We, as parents, were against it, but we are a minority”, - said the parents of school 338. According to them, the new version of the inspection report should be prepared by the food officer, that is, the school employee directly,” reports the telegram channel “Facts without censorship”.

There are hundreds of such situations, and in different cities of Russia. In some regions, parents have begun to unite in social movements that advocate quality control of baby food. For example, a public organization "For Safe Childhood" operates in Tyumen. They believe that the low level of organization and quality of food in many schools is directly related to the issue of the safety and health of children. Today you can already find out about the first results of parental control over baby food, which was carried out by the parents of Tyumen. But much more interesting are the proposals that the organization "For Safe Childhood" sent to the @parentsmeals telegram channel - it was opened by the Ministry of Education to collect proposals from parents. Here is some of them:

1. Install cameras with online access for parents in all school canteens. Parent - the customer of the child's catering service. And he has the right at any time to see how this service is provided, to have the opportunity right from work to see what is in his child's plate and how much he ate today.

2. Amend the Law "On Education" or other regulations to exclude outsourcing from school meals. Fully transfer the function to schools. Introduce a staff unit in schools: Deputy Director - Head of the canteen, with clearly defined duties and responsibilities.

3. By a normative legal act, the obligation of the school principal to create a parental commission for food control at the school, with the number of members in the proportion of at least one class - one parent. Add the members of the commission to the lists of people who have unhindered access to the school cafeteria at any day and hour and without warning!

The most amazing thing, you know what? In one of his messages to the Federal Assembly, the President of the Russian Federation stated the need for parental control over the organization of children's meals. But officials from the Ministry of Education are apparently above that. But restricting the free access of parents to school and kindergarten canteens to control the quality of food is not only a violation of the rights of parents. It is also a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights. But the most important thing is a violation of common sense.

Judicial practice suggests that a child within the walls of a Russian school is not protected from anything. Including - from violations in the organization of public catering. But these violations now, apparently, will be classified as "top secret".