The National Alliance of Presidents of Parents’ Associations yesterday called for greater oversight of meals served to students at school — including new legislation to set national standards — and better focus on areas such as food safety and quality of ingredients.
The alliance said in a statement that a news report showed that school lunch programs in some parts of the nation are not receiving enough funding, and that in some cases as little as NT$16.5 is being spent on ingredients per meal per child.
The alliance urges the government and others to pay attention to the issue for the sake of protecting the health of students nationwide, alliance president Pan Pin-jui (潘品睿) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
At some schools in Chiayi County, parents are paying NT$700 per month for their children’s school lunch program, averaging about NT$32 per meal, but only about NT$17 of the cost is being spent on ingredients, the alliance said.
Even factoring in subsidies offered by the government to help cover the costs of ingredients — which were raised to NT$6 per student per day as of Jan. 1 — relatively little money is being spent on ingredients, the alliance said.
This is because part of the costs are spent on labor, rent, utilities and equipment, it said.
The limited funding leads to kitchen or catering staff being paid low wages, as well as meals that are made with poor-quality ingredients, or lacking in nutritional value or variety, it added.
Alliance vice president Wang Han-yang (王瀚陽) said the alliance, which was founded in 2015, proposes using the entirety of the fee paid by parents on purchasing ingredients, while the government should subsidize other expenses.
The alliance suggested drafting a law dedicated to the regulation of school lunch programs to introduce national standards and guarantee food safety.
More food-safety officials and nutritionists are also needed at schools to supervise the quality of the ingredients and the preparation of meals, it said.
Sheu Hui-yu (許惠玉), the director of the Division of Food and Nutrition at the John Tung Foundation, called for greater transparency, saying that the government should create a platform that would make ingredients and their costs public.
Additional reporting by CNA
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