About 70 per cent of food blocks in schools ready for new school year

Chisinau, 23 August /MOLDPRES/- About 70 percent of the food blocks in pre-school and education institutions meet the rules and have got official authorization to start the new school year. The director of the National Agency for Food Safety (ANSA), Gheorghe Gaberi, made the statement today.

The verifications were carried out by the joint commissions from the districts and the municipalities of the country, and the latest institutional preparations are currently being evaluated.

"Members of the commissions checked the technical and organizational aspects. If we refer to food verification, the actions will take place at the beginning of the study year," he said.

For his part, ANSA deputy head Ion Toma has reported several violations detected by the Agency's inspectors.  "Even though several repairs were carried out in several food blocks, several technical violations were reported, inadequate equipment, waste materials were found, lack of sewerage system, lack of hygiene points, ventilation and use of an old technique. There are public catering establishments that need repairs and change of equipment. There are institutions that do not have a centralized aqueduct, and another problem would be the lack of qualified staff or the presence of older staff. We hope that, by late 2018, public catering establishments in educational institutions be made in line with the rules,” he said.

According to ANSA, over 1,100 kindergartens have been checked in June-August, of which about 1,000 (over 70%) comply with the rules. At the same time, 1,200 schools, gymnasiums and lyceums were checked, of which over 1,000 correspond to rigors, which is 83%.

The food blocks are checked by ANSA inspectors at least twice a year.

(Reporter A. Ciobanu, editor A. Răileanu)