State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection has not received any complaints about the quality of food in Mykolaiv schools

Mykolaiv's State Food and Consumer Service has not received any complaints about children's meals in schools. Photo: NikVesti

The State Food and Consumer Service of Mykolaiv has stated that it has not received any complaints about poor quality food in the city's school canteens.

This was reported to NikVesti by the press service of the Main Department of the State Food and Consumer Service in Mykolaiv region.

«As of today, we have not received any appeals. If they do, the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection will carry out unscheduled inspections in accordance with the law», the press service said.

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

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

«The barmaid explained that she had put the nugget on top of the potatoes, so part of it was hidden. I don't want to blame anyone, it's not slander. The plate was clean, but why is only one plate shown in the photo? It would have been better to take a picture of the whole table to show the whole picture», he added.

This is how children are fed in Mykolaiv schools, 14 million hryvnias will be spent from the budget by the end of the year, photo: Anna Shevchenko

The quality of food in schools is controlled by the Education Department of the Mykolaiv City Council.

The Main Directorate of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection reminded that citizens can file complaints using the form on the State Service's website or by email (dpssmykolayiv@dpssmk.gov.ua).

Additional information on filing complaints can be obtained by phone: 0512-30-43-26.

As a reminder, the Mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, responded to the parents' complaints by stating that a special commission of representatives of the city council would be set up 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.

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.