13 school canteens in Mykolaiv inspected and found violations

Schools in Mykolaiv found violations in children's nutrition. Illustrative photo: NikVesti

During inspections of canteens in Mykolaiv schools, violations in the organisation of children's meals were found: no running hot water, broken crockery and problems with food storage.

According to the Office of the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights in Mykolaiv region, after parents' complaints, the ombudsmen sent a request to the city education department.

They replied that the mayor had set up a special commission, which included representatives of the authorities, the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, deputies and the parental community. From 16 to 24 September, they inspected 13 schools and found a number of problems.

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In particular, some canteens did not have hot running water for hand washing, used crockery with damaged enamel, lacked refrigerators and had poor food storage conditions. They also found problems with the organisation of the production process and reject documentation.

The ombudsmen assure that they will now monitor how the city authorities and responsible services implement the mayor's orders, remove the identified shortcomings and provide children with safe and high-quality food.

Earlier it was reported that following complaints about the quality of food in Mykolaiv's school canteens, the city authorities are considering installing CCTV cameras.

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.

Parents complain about the quality of food in Mykolaiv schools, photo: Hanna Shevchenko

Petro Vasheniak, 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, but 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 Senkevych, responded to the 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 Oblast checked the food served to children in 15 schools in the city. Experts analysed photo reports of the meals served to students.

Anatoliy Petrov, Deputy Mayor of Mykolaiv for Social and Humanitarian Affairs, said that no city in Ukraine can provide quality food for all schoolchildren.

As a reminder, in Mykolaiv, parents of students at Mykola Arkas Lyceum, which is temporarily operating on the basis of Gymnasium No. 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 Mykolaiv Education Department confirmed that maggots were found in the porridge at a school in Mykolaiv in the first days of September.