Monday, April 11, 2005
Poisoning drives home need for school canteens
EDUCATION Secretary Florencio Abad has ordered all schools to put up a canteen and for school representatives to undergo training on nutrition and food safety.
Department of Education (DepEd) 7 Director Carolino Mordeno said heads of schools that do not have canteens yet should collaborate with the Parents Teachers Community Association (PTCA) in establishing one by the next school year, “no matter how small.”
Abad issued the instructions following the death of 28 children in Mabini, Bohol after they ate fried cassava that later turned out to have traces of pesticide. The children bought these outside their school last month.
Abad reiterated his advice to inform school children to buy food and beverages only from the school canteen and to discourage them from going out of the campus to buy food.
He also ordered home economics teachers assigned to manage the school canteen, as well as canteen managers and hired helpers, to undergo training on nutrition and food safety.
They should also secure health certificates.
This includes securing sanitary permits to operate the canteen, Mordeno said.
Regional Health and Nutrition Center head Nora Fe Matig-a said DepEd’s standing policy on the establishment of school canteens dates back to a memorandum issued in May 1978.
She acknowledges that putting up a canteen will require funds, which might be a problem for some PTCAs, and it will be difficult to do in schools that are suffering from congestion and lack of classrooms.
However, Matig-a said that aside from ensuring that students will only consume nutritious and safe food and drinks, proceeds of the canteen could fund feeding programs for the school.
Refresher
Both Matig-a and regional nutritionist Grace Espos agree, however, that home economics teachers should be given a refresher on food safety.
Espos said they should be updated on food-borne diseases and informed well about food storage.
She confirmed there are existing policies on the ideal kitchen and canteen facilities.
Although they have conducted seminars on nutrition, there is none yet on food safety.
With the aim to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition among grade one students, DepEd gave home economics teachers a seminar on “indigenous” breakfast, lunch and snacks recipes.
However, schools are given the discretion to use the recipes.
In Region 7, the percentage of malnourished and underweight school children dropped to 23.5 percent last year from the 25 percent in 2003.
Under Abad’s instructions, schools division superintendents will designate home economics supervisors and division health personnel to conduct periodic assessments of the nutritive value of food served, quality of food services, sanitation and the use of facilities in the canteen.
The school head, in coordination with the PTCA, should seek the assistance of local government and rural health units or barangay health centers in regulating the sale of food and beverages by ambulant vendors outside the school. CYR
(April 11, 2005 issue)
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