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- They made a mess: in the Russian Federation they propose to reconsider the approach to school meals
They made a mess: in the Russian Federation they propose to reconsider the approach to school meals
Russia wants to carry out a large-scale reform of school meals: regions will be able to create state-owned enterprises to organize it. Such a bill will soon be considered by the State Duma on the initiative of the legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. At the same time, the Federation Council proposed to the Government to initiate regional programs providing for the priority inclusion of fish products and functional foods in school diets. And suppliers who are noticed in the circulation of counterfeit goods or who have committed some kind of violations are offered to be excluded from supplies to educational and other institutions. For more information about the prospects for innovations and barriers to the implementation of the reform, see the Izvestia article.
Control over food production
Currently, according to the Federal Assembly, only about 60% of schools have their own catering facilities (state food processing plants), the rest use outsourcing services. At the same time, the Rospotrebnadzor review notes that more than 85% of schools have the material and technical base of food stores. But most of them were built before 1980 and have high equipment wear.
The transition to the model of state-owned enterprises, according to the calculations of the Rosinfra platform, will reduce the cost of purchasing products by 10-15% due to wholesale contracts and logistics. This indicator was obtained by comparing average purchase prices for individual schools and centralized tenders conducted in the pilot regions (Moscow, Ryazan and Amur regions, Sochi, Voronezh, Leningrad, Kursk, Volgograd and Tambov regions, the Republics of Bashkortostan and Mordovia, as well as the Krasnoyarsk Territory).
The effectiveness of the control will depend on the professionalism of the regional authorities. If it remains formal, the risks for children will remain. The question of the real influence of parents on the menu is also still open: much depends on how the feedback system will be built and to what extent the local authorities will be ready for dialogue. Public nutrition councils already operate in a number of regions, but their powers are often limited. According to various surveys conducted by parent committees, only 25% of parents believe that they can really influence the formation of the school menu.
At the same time, according to surveys of parents conducted by the Sociological Institute of the FNSC RAS (SI FNSC in St. Petersburg), it is the quality of food that most worries the families of students. In St. Petersburg, for example, according to Zoya Proshkova, a senior researcher at the institute, parents rate food at 4.1 points out of 5. The average score in Russia is lower — only 3.4 points. Parents of middle and high school students are especially worried. It's not just the quality and cost of food, but also the fact that children don't have time to eat at recess (canteens close too early).
The lack of clear mechanisms for parents' influence on the menu is a serious disadvantage of the draft law submitted to the State Duma, the editorial interlocutor believes. And it turns out that all parents are left with are public opinion polls, complaints, and chat discussions. That is why, she is convinced, the authors of the reform need to think through full-fledged feedback channels.
The ANO "Institute of Industrial Nutrition" urged to wait for the government's conclusion on the bill. "It is important to note that this project does not require the transition to provision through state—owned enterprises, but only gives this right to subjects," the institute noted.
Improvement measures
Currently, there is a serious problem of counterfeit food products entering the field of social nutrition, including schools and preschool institutions, the Federation Council found out. This poses a serious threat, especially given the deficiency of micro- and macronutrients in children.
The Federation Council refers to data from relevant scientific centers and draws attention to the lack of important trace elements in the nutrition of minors. In particular, 68% of children have a pronounced, and 17% have an extremely severe deficiency of omega—3 PUFA. 17.5% lack iron, 58% lack magnesium, 82% lack calcium, 60% lack zinc, and 70% lack vitamin C. In addition, the children's population also has a deficiency of B vitamins (up to 40%) and beta‑carotene (40%).
To improve the situation, the special commission of the upper house of Parliament, which includes representatives of a number of departments and industry associations, proposed to the Government of the Russian Federation to initiate regional programs providing for the priority inclusion of fish products and certified functional foods in school diets. The initiatives are contained in the recommendations of the Federation Council Commission for monitoring legislation in the field of state and municipal control "on the issue of violations in terms of misleading consumers about the quality of food products," which Izvestia has reviewed.
It is noted that it is critically important to ensure access to auctions only to those supplier companies that can confirm the legality of the origin of raw materials and products through state traceability systems. Suppliers with documented cases of falsification are proposed to be excluded from participating in the supply. The proposal to curb fictitious document flow is also important.
"As the government develops labeling and traceability systems, all market participants have simple and reliable guidelines for choosing a legal counterparty that meets the mandatory requirements for its activities," said Vyacheslav Timchenko, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Rules and Organization of Parliamentary Activities. — In most cases, the presence of registration in GIS MT (Honest Sign platform. — Izvestia) or FGIS Mercury is a prerequisite for the activities of a supplier and manufacturer of food products.
Therefore, according to him, checking this circumstance when concluding contracts for the supply of food to educational and social institutions is an absolutely logical step.
Quality, prices, and parental controls
The creation of state-owned school catering enterprises will definitely improve the quality of food for children, which is confirmed by the experiment on the centralization of procurement in the Chuvash Republic. In the region, it was possible to reduce the number of catering organizers from 400 to 30, as well as reduce the cost of lunches and breakfasts against the background of increased control over the safety and taste of products.
— Centralization of school meals is primarily a transition to professional quality control. Optimization allowed us to significantly strengthen control over the safety and taste characteristics of dishes. In addition, the work of specialized organizations made it possible to free school principals from their unusual functions — procurement, selection of chefs and logistics of products. Now professionals are doing this," Oleg Nikolaev, the head of Chuvashia, told Izvestia.
For parents, one of the main questions is whether the reform will lead to higher prices or hidden fees. In the short term, the cost of food may even decrease due to the optimization of purchases. According to preliminary calculations by experts from regional education quality assessment centers, the average cost of a school lunch in the regions may decrease by 5-7%.
This forecast is based on an analysis of price dynamics in regions where elements of procurement centralization have already been introduced. The calculation is based on the following: with the current average cost of lunch of 80-100 rubles and the number of school days per year (about 200), the annual cost per student ranges from 16 to 20 thousand rubles.
— In Yamal, the model of centralized production of school meals has already been tested, and very successfully. And I want to say that there are no problems of extortion and hidden payments yet," said Alexander Yefimov, director of the regional Center for Quality Assessment of Education assessment. — I think that the proposed scheme with state-owned factories is quite working. Will the food become tastier or better in schools? Not a fact. But it won't get any worse.
At the same time, according to the estimates of the Sociological Institute of the National Research Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, during the reform there is a risk of price increases due to reduced competition. However, the law does not oblige all regions to switch to a new model, and in rural areas it is more practical to maintain the same catering system (cooking in schools themselves, because it will be cheaper that way).
Shortage of staff in the catering sector
New state-owned enterprises will create additional jobs in the regions, Zoya Proshkova admits. But the reform risks facing a severe personnel shortage — about 30,000 employees are currently missing in the catering sector.
In St. Petersburg, one of the country's tourist centers, according to the sociologist, it is difficult to find workers even in cafes and restaurants. A 20% salary increase did not stimulate people, which means that a whole system of motivators will have to be used to attract staff to state-owned school catering enterprises.
Therefore, it is precisely the lack of staff that can potentially block the implementation of the reform, the specialist summarizes.
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