Brazil city to give food pellets dubbed ‘dog food’ to poor school kids
SAO PAULO: Nicknamed ‘dog food’ and made from nearly expired left- overs, a new product designed to fight hunger among school kids in Brazil’s largest city has sparked controversy.
Sao Paulo mayor Joao Doria this week presented the dry pellets at a press conference and promised they will reduce hunger among the city’s poorest school children, while also slashing food waste.
In some of its forms, such as the pellets, the recycled food — officially known as ‘ farinata’ — can be eaten on its own, but it can also be added to other meals, such as spaghetti or cakes.
Despite the public outcry over its dystopian appearance and unappealing provenance, the mayor — from the conservative PSDB party, and tipped as a potential presidential candidate in 2018 — said he had already authorised the food to be distributed to some the city’s schools this month, without specifying how many children would receive it.
“The ministry of education has been authorised to use it in school meals, in a complementary form,” said Doria.
Human Rights secretary Elo sa Arruda said the move had been taken before a full study on the nutritional needs of underprivileged students had been carried out in Sao Paulo, the largest metropolis in South America.
Doria described the pellets as a ‘“blessed food’ when he presented them, and defended their immediate distribution to children from lower income families.
“Starting in October, we will have a gradual roll- out... to offer it to people who are hungry,” he said.
But a lack of transparency over farinata’s production and exact usage have only sharpened the controversy in a society already plagued by vast disparities between rich and poor.
“When we offer pellets to lower income people to eat, we are only exacerbating the inequality in society,” said Vivian Zollar, a spokeswoman for the Region Council on Nutrition, saying the move demanded a broader debate within society.
The council issued a statement this week questioning the distribution of the pellets, saying it was a violation of the right to adequate food and ‘flew in the face of advances made in recent years in the field of food security’.
Zollar also accused the mayor’s office of not having sufficiently researched possible alternatives to tackle the problem of food scarcity. — AFP