In the government, under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ermek Kosherbayev, a meeting was held on the issues of ensuring quality and safe nutrition of children in educational institutions.

During the meeting, the main aspects of the functioning of the school and pre-school nutrition system were considered, along with the issues of financing, compliance with sanitary and hygienic norms, quality control of food products, as well as conditions for its transportation.

Minister of Education Gani Beysembayev shared information about the current state of the food system. According to the head of the department, 1.8 million students are provided with free meals today. For this purpose, 205 billion tenge were allocated from the republican budget in 2024. Starting from 2025, educational organizations will introduce a standard menu developed taking into account new nutritional standards and recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). Such facts are a direct threat to children's health. Therefore, urgent action is required.

Deputy Prime Minister Ermek Kosherbayev stated that providing schoolchildren with high-quality and safe food is one of the priority tasks of the state social policy, as well as not allowing violations of sanitary standards, not only strictly controlling the quality of products, but also emphasizing the need to carefully consider the conditions of their storage and preparation.

"It is important to eliminate any risks associated with non-compliance with hygiene requirements. We are obliged to introduce modern digital technologies of monitoring, to ensure the transparency of procurement procedures and to strengthen the responsibility provided for suppliers who have provided poor quality services," said Ermek Kosherbayev.

In order to increase the efficiency of the school and preschool feeding system, the following tasks were given to the relevant state bodies:

development of a mechanism for the integration of digital solutions and the monitoring system with the state database;

control of food storage and transportation in educational organizations. strengthening;

development of additional administrative and departmental measures, including conducting unscheduled inspections and increasing the responsibility of suppliers for violations of contractual and sanitary obligations.

Representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education presented their recommendations on updating the legal framework regulating children's nutrition, as well as introducing systematic mechanisms for control and prevention of violations.

As a result of the Council, the Deputy Prime Minister identified violations instructed to develop additional comprehensive measures to strengthen interdepartmental, including law enforcement, interaction for timely response. Attention is drawn to the need to improve the qualifications of the personnel involved in the organization of catering services, to conduct regular monitoring of processes at all levels.

The government will continue to work on improving the catering organization system, ensuring compliance with modern standards of quality, safety and transparency in educational organizations. Implementation of digital solutions, increased control and active participation of the public will help to minimize risks and ensure the sustainable functioning of the system aimed at protecting the health and well-being of the younger generation.

Source : https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/akimvko/press/news/details/965566?lang=kk