«They eat leftovers after others»: parents of Arkas Lyceum in Mykolaiv complain about food in the school canteen

In Mykolaiv, parents of students of the Mykola Arkas Lyceum, which is temporarily operating on the basis of gymnasium №39, complain about problems with food in the canteen. According to them, the children are served portions that were not finished by the students of the gymnasium.

The parents posted a video with a complaint about the violation of sanitary standards on social media, according to NikVesti.

The video shows a catering worker pouring buckwheat from the plates of students of gymnasium №39 into a large container to heat it up and serve it again to the children of the Arkas Lyceum. Although according to the rules, such food should be disposed. In addition, parents claim that the food is brought to school not in thermal containers, but in ordinary buckets.

In a commentary to NikVesti, the director of the Mykola Arkas Lyceum, Liubov Patlata, confirmed that parents had recently complained about violations of sanitary standards in the school canteen. In particular, it was said that the lyceum children were served dishes that had not been finished by the gymnasium students, or they were given extra food to make it look like it was fresh.

«We have already started an investigation. For two days in a row, parents came in, drew up the relevant reports, and a third inspection was scheduled for Monday. But the parents decided to get ahead of the process and posted a video on social media. The reports recorded violations of sanitary and hygienic rules. For example, when the children of school 39 have lunch, the salad is not removed, but simply added. It was the same with portions — food that was not finished could be added to our children's food. There were cases when half-drunk compotes were poured into one pot and poured again. They eat leftovers after others. This is what parents drew attention to in their written comments and suggestions,» says Liubov Patlata.

She says they have already drawn up two complaint reports, and planned to write the third one after the parents' inspection on Monday. Depending on the results, the complaints were to be forwarded to the relevant services.

«We have already drawn up two complaint reports, and planned to write the third one after the parents' control visit on Monday. We wanted to see if the situation would improve. And according to the situation, we would draw up a third report and send all the documents to the MPE-C, the sanitary and epidemiological station and the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection. So far, we have not sent anything,» the director explained.

The lyceum administration also reported the incident to the Department of Education. They replied that parents have the right to inspect the canteen.

«We called and said that parents come and control the situation. We were told: no problem, it's their right,» says Liubov Patlata.

She added that the employees of the municipal production enterprise that provides food in schools did not respond to the comments and complaints. Although it is a matter of compliance with sanitary standards and children's health.

Complaints about food in Mykolaiv schools

Earlier, parents of Mykolaiv schoolchildren expressed dissatisfaction with free meals on social media. According to them, the portions were smaller than normal, the meals were served cold, and the crockery in the school canteens was dirty.

Petro Vashniak, director of the municipal production enterprise for catering in Mykolaiv schools, said he had personally checked the situation, particularly at school 41, where parents complained about the amount of food on the plate. According to him, the portions were in line with the standards, and in the photo, part of the dish was hidden — for example, a chicken nugget was lying on top of potatoes.

Later, the State Food and Consumer Service of Mykolaiv stated that they had not received any complaints about poor quality food in the city's school canteens.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, responded to parents' complaints by saying that a special commission would be set up in the city with representatives of the city council to monitor the situation.

Following the incident, the Main Department of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in Mykolaiv region checked the food served to children in 15 schools in the city. Experts analysed photo reports of the meals served to students.

It is known that in the new school year, all pupils from grades 1 to 11 will be provided with free meals in Mykolaiv schools. The funding for meals will be shared: up to 70% of the costs will be covered by the state, and the rest by the city budget.

It should be noted that at the last session, the deputies of Mykolaiv City Council reallocated the city budget, including 14 million hryvnias for meals for children in the city's schools.

As a reminder, it was planned to spend 146.2 million hryvnias on meals for children in Mykolaiv schools by the end of this year. Earlier it was reported that school meals would rise in price from 1 September.