In four schools in Mykolaiv region, it is now possible to complain about food via the AI assistant «Khvylka»

Director of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration's Department of Education Alla Velikhovska and Head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration's Digital Transformation Department Dmytro Gavryliak. Photo: NikVesti

This was announced at a briefing on the modernisation of the school food system in Mykolaiv region today, 12 March, according to NikVesti.

Alla Velikhovska, director of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration's Department of Education, explained that school menus are designed for four seasons in accordance with the «healthy eating plate» principle. After the meals are prepared, food samples are taken from the establishments and stored in the refrigerator for a week. If parents or doctors report possible food poisoning in a child, these samples are sent for laboratory testing to the State Food and Consumer Service. However, it is also taken into account that children can get food poisoning outside of school.

To make food quality control more transparent, an experimental digital tool, the AI assistant «Khvylka», has been launched in the region. Representatives of 40 schools have already joined the testing of the system.

«The establishments that serve their meals were selected by the State Food and Consumer Service according to different meal models — one, two, three or five meals a day. These include both regional establishments and schools in the communities,» said Alla Velikhovska.

Dmytro Havryliak, head of the digital transformation department of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, noted that the system should make the process of responding to complaints more transparent. Applications will be analysed by artificial intelligence, but for now they are being additionally checked by specialists.

There are two ways to submit an appeal: via the website or via the Khvylka bot.

«We tried to simplify the submission of information as much as possible so that the person would have to do as little as possible. You need to log in using your mobile phone so that we know who submitted the request and can contact them if necessary. Then you need to select the educational institution, class, date of the event, briefly describe the problem and add a photo of the food products that are the subject of the request,» explained Dmytro Havryliak.

Currently, four institutions are connected to the Hvilka system: Antonivka Art Lyceum, Berezkivskyi Art Lyceum, Mykolaiv Special School №2, and Admiralskyi Mykolaiv Regional Economic Lyceum. According to Dmytro Havryliak, three complaints have already been received through the system: two were forwarded to the State Food and Consumer Service for verification, and one was found to be invalid.

Alla Velikhovska also noted that complaints about food are rarely sent directly to the Department of Education. Most often, they are published on social networks, after which the media picks up on the topic.

«Unfortunately, there are a lot of such 'posts'. Our aggressive neighbours also do not shy away from discrediting a good state initiative on children's nutrition. There are also people who try to attract attention by doing this. But there are also really serious comments, and then we can follow up on them,» she said.

In addition, each community plans to set up commissions to respond to complaints about school meals. These commissions may include representatives of local education authorities, the State Food and Consumer Service, and parent committees.