Khaberni - Inspection teams from the Public Institution for Food and Drug monitored violations in a number of school cafeterias during field tours.
The institution representative and member of the cafeteria inspection committee, Ruwaida Abdullah, stated on Friday evening that the violations consisted of selling banned food items within school cafeterias, or offering food items of unknown or unreliable sources, in addition to serving unhealthy food such as hamburgers, French fries, and 'zinger', alongside non-compliance with proper storage conditions.
She pointed out that the cafeterias referred to the judiciary from private schools did not witness any poisoning cases among the students.
The joint tours during the first academic term revealed a number of violations, characterized by non-compliance with proper storage conditions for food items, and the circulation and sale of food items not allowed within school cafeterias. Legal actions were taken, and (7) school cafeterias were referred to the competent judicial authorities to complete legal procedures; also, food items not matching health conditions were destroyed.
She emphasized that the storage conditions require the availability of refrigerators within the cafeterias to ensure food safety, warning against serving high-risk foods if health standards are not met.
She stressed the necessity for all cafeteria workers to obtain certificates indicating free of diseases.
She pointed out that the recently referred cafeterias were from private schools, noting that the institution will launch an intensive monitoring campaign covering school cafeterias in both public and private schools.
She called for utmost importance to the conditions of providing healthy food in schools and the safety of the food served to students, ensuring the source of food items, their supply method, storage, and compliance with declared health conditions, in addition to the necessity of issuing a health certificate for everyone dealing with food.
The institution representative in the cafeteria committee clarified that the banned foods and beverages for sale and circulation in school cafeterias include the following:
First: Beverages
• Carbonated drinks.
• Energy drinks.
• Beverages containing caffeine.
• Handmade juices.
• Fruit syrup and flavored syrup.
Second: Sweets
• Gum, lozenges, lollipops, toffee, nougat, marshmallow, and burnt sugar (caramel).
• Chocolate containing any of the materials mentioned above.
Third: Foods
• Spoiled or stale foods.
• Meats of all types.
• Eggs.
• Internal organs.
• French fries.
Fourth: Other Products
• Ice cream and ice pops, including ice cream and Eskimo.
• Beverages and canned food items in glass containers.
• Any food items the minister decides to ban after the decision is published in the Official Gazette.
