Principals to share meals with students
Latest measure meant to help ensure food safety in Beijing school cafeterias
Beijing education authorities issued new rules to strengthen food safety in school cafeterias, including requiring school headmasters to eat the same food together with students.
The new rules apply to primary and secondary schools as well as kindergartens in Beijing.
Headmasters must have every meal with students to help solve potential food safety risks in a timely manner, according to a new regulation publicized by the Beijing Municipal Education Commission on Wednesday. Cold dishes and raw food that has not been processed was also banned in cafeterias by the commission, citing a relatively high safety risk.
Schools using food delivery services for students’ meals should also submit reports to the district’s education and food supervision authorities or provide copies of contracts signed with the providers, it said.
A response mechanism should also be set up in case food safety emergencies occur on campuses, under the regulation.
In September 2016, education authorities in Beijing ordered principals to be accountable for their schools’ food safety, and said that a full-time food safety specialist should be employed on every campus.
In October, parents of SMIC Private School in Shanghai found moldy vegetables in the school’s kitchen, but the principal insisted that the kitchen didn’t have any problems.
After an investigation, the president of the school was dismissed and the food delivery company was barred from providing food services to the involved schools in Shanghai.
Yun Wuxin, a science writer who holds a doctorate in food safety from Purdue University in the United States, said the spoiled food played an educational role in showing people that cold food is more likely to be infected with bacteria.
According to Yun, food cooked at temperatures above 60 C, or kept frozen, has the least potential risk.
“The new regulation also sets a good example for other provinces that schools should pay more attention to food safety issues,” he said.
On Sept 3, the ingredients in nutritious meals at some schools in Wan’an, Jiangxi province, were found to have deteriorated, and 25 students at seven institutions were examined for abdominal pains and distention. The students were all sent to the hospital for treatment.
Local governments and related departments have been told by higher authorities to strengthen their food safety supervision, and when major incidents happen the authorities responsible will face legal consequences.
Chu Zhaohui, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Education Sciences, said that having principals accompany students to lunch will prevent some food safety incidents.
“The system of headmasters eating food with students has been around since 2015 but it hasn’t been well implemented in some places, and the attitudes of some principals need to change,” Chu said.