Auditor- General's 2009 Report on Poor Food served in School

Tuesday October 26, 2010 - Star Online

School kids served poor food

POOR children in some schools are being served unbalanced meals while others are eating meals prepared 18 hours in advance, said the Auditor-General’s 2009 Report.
The Education Department issued a notice of periodic monitoring to two schools for serving sardine sandwiches with no sardines and chicken porridge with no chicken.
Two schools in Perak cancelled their contracts with caterers because they continued to flout meal regulations.
Dieticians from the Health Ministry said the meals served under the supplementary food programme (RMT) meant for children from poor families could lead to malnutrition.
The Education Ministry has prepared a guide which lists 20 menu choices to be served under the RMT.
The guide also says the meals must include meat and vegetables to ensure a balanced diet for the children.
The meals, which consist of one main dish, a drink and a fruit must be prepared and served five times a week by a school-appointed caterer...........
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/26/nation/7298263&sec=nation

A-G's Report: Poor schoolchildren served unbalanced meals


Published: Monday October 25, 2010 MYT 8:42:00 PM

By SHAUN HO/ Star Online

KUALA LUMPUR: Poor children in some schools are being served unbalanced meals while other schools are serving food prepared 18 hours earlier, the Auditor-General's Report 2009 said.The state Education Department issued a notice of periodic monitoring to two schools for serving sardine sandwiches with no sardines and chicken porridge with no chicken.
Two schools in Perak cancelled their contracts with caterers because the caterers continued to flout meal regulations although the matter was brought up by the schools.
Dietitians from the Health Ministry said the meals, served under the additional food program (RMT) meant for children from poor families, could cause the children to be malnourished.

The Education Ministry has prepared a guide which lists 20 menu choices to be served under the RMT.

The guide also controls ingredients of the food, which must include meat and vegetables, to assure a balanced diet for the children and this must be followed closely by the caterers.

The meals consist of one dish, a drink and a fruit item which must be prepared and served five times a week by a school-appointed caterer.
SK Jernang in Batang Padang, Perak was found to have been serving beef curry that was cooked and stored 18 hours before it was served to students. The caterer gave the excuse that the school was far from the premises and there was not enough time to cook the food on the same day.

The Audit Department said the ministry should come up with an alternative measure that would allow caterers to prepare and serve the food on the same day it is served.An audit at the school also found that it was only serving four daily breakfasts instead of five.
The school did not give an explanation why it did not serve all five meals. An audit on the school last July also found that it was only serving plain fried beehoon without any meat or vegetables. The serving of fruit with the meal was also less than required (a slice of apple instead of half an apple).
The A-G's Report also said some schools were found to be preparing their RMT meals in unsanitary conditions because they did not have proper food preparation areas.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/10/25/nation/20101025205015&sec=nation



My comments;

This column is reporting on supplementary food programme (RMT). This program is to help the malnourished students from the poor family.. The food is subsidized to the student RM1.80 per head every day.. The food contractor will get a lump sum of amount paid by the Ministry of Education.. The problem here is not about there is no guidelines or well balanced menu been offered.. The problem are monitoring and supervising food contractor on preparing the food for the students. Most of the food contractor actually gain their profit from here... the school authority give all their trust to the food contractor without any hesitation because the school admin and teachers have abundant of workloads to be done rather than just supervising on the food been prepared by the food contractor.. Sometimes, the food contractor will give different food to the teachers compared to what they prepared for the students.. 

Imagine that the food contractor prepared fried noodles without any vegetables and meat as ingredients but just added fermented soy sauce and blended anchovies as substitute... the profit making of the fried noodles are more than 200%.. So what should we do especially the parents.. we cannot hope on the teachers...so to whom should we blame on this cause... Mostly people will blame 120% to the food contractors... which their contract will be terminate immediately BUT that do not solve the problem..Food contractor are business people too, they always think of how to make money especially in a captive market which the customers are limited to a certain number..


That is why as i stated in my last post on the Wishing List...Parents, teachers, school admin and Ministry have to work together to provide a better food to the students.. not just for the RMT program but to all. Maybe it's time for us to have a paradigm shift on the school canteen management.