"Kazakhstan's Prime Minister: The cost of one child's meal in school cafeterias does not exceed 500 tenge."

During a government meeting, the quality of food in Kazakhstani school cafeterias was discussed following the president's address on this topic at a recent forum, reports NUR.KZ correspondent.

https://www.nur.kz/politics/kazakhstan/2189405-pitanie-1-rebenka-ne-prevyshaet-500-tenge-premer-kazahstana-dal-poruchenie-po-ede-v-shkolnyh-stolovyh/2024-11-19 08:27:58

The Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov issued the following directives during the government meeting:

As noted by the Minister of Education Gani Beysembayev, a new nutrition standard for educational organizations has been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, which is set to be implemented in Kazakhstan starting in 2025.

"Currently, the Ministry is addressing the issue of introducing administrative responsibility for officials who violate the requirements for selecting suppliers when procuring school meal services," added Gani Beysembayev.

Recall that at the first Forum of Agricultural Workers, which took place at the end of last week, the President commented on a recent case of food poisoning among schoolchildren in a cafeteria in the Mangistau region. Tokayev emphasized the need for strict oversight of compliance with sanitary and epidemiological standards.

"However, the problem is much broader. We cannot feed schoolchildren with cheap products of questionable quality. (...) Relevant structures should seriously address the issue of improving the quality of products used in school cafeterias," stated Tokayev.

A week ago, the head of the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan, Akmaral Alnazarova, announced plans to develop a new school nutrition standard. She set a goal to ensure that every child, regardless of the region, receives a balanced amount of proteins, vitamins, and all necessary nutrients daily.

It is worth noting that previously, free meals were introduced for students in grades 1-4 in Kazakhstan. Additionally, in 2022, Kazakhstani schoolchildren were allowed to bring food from home—cafeteria operators were required to create appropriate conditions. However, prior to this strict ban on homemade food in cafeterias, there were no such prohibitions, although various schools had certain restrictions, including for sanitary reasons.

In October of last year, a scandal erupted in the Almaty region due to expired products—elementary school students receiving free meals were given yogurts that were two years past their expiration date.

Afterward, the Minister of Education was asked about a possible review of the nutrition system in Kazakhstani schools.

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