School meals: food thrown away, salaries — 33,000

      Today the deputy chair of the Kirov City Duma, Larisa Kopysova, spoke about September inspections of school cafeterias that involved government representatives. In total they were able to check 43 out of 60 schools. During these visits there were no major complaints about the food. However, problems were nevertheless revealed, and they are serious.

      One of them is that the children eat almost nothing. For example, they don't drink compotes, especially berry compotes; they can't stand liver, so it had to be removed from the menu entirely; they don't eat almost any soups (the exception is borscht, and even that rarely); they don't touch fish, including fish patties. They eat very little rice and buckwheat. But even what the children like is far from always eaten entirely. When asked why pupils don't finish their meals, they replied that some dishes they refuse to eat on principle; moreover, there are no sauces for the side dishes, and the cooks serve portions that are too large. Many children also ask for sausages, but SanPiN requirements do not allow them to be purchased.

      The second problem is the equipment of the kitchens. In many schools there is a shortage of intact (unbroken) dishes, ovens, freezers, pots, dishwashers and much more.

      The third and one of the main problems is staffing. According to a representative of the "Catering Company," currently they employ 502 people, whereas there should be 622. In other words, 120 people are missing. On September 1 the shortfall was 130. The existing staff have to cope, but the workload is simply monstrous. Especially considering that, as was stated at the meeting, cooks' salaries are only 33-35 thousand rubles, and they have to work from four in the morning until evening. Deputy Denis Yerokhin expressed the view that for such pay people either do poor-quality work or take leftovers home. Moreover, there is a huge amount of leftovers in schools, Kopysova reported.

      City authorities promise to consider what measures can be taken to solve these problems. Also, possibly the situation could be affected by a new head of the "Catering Company." However, given his previous responsibilities, this appears to be a difficult task.