• Home

Protection is required

THE Ministry of Health should take all necessary steps to ensure that contagious diseases do not enter school-campuses. Measures taken in this context should include regular inspections of bakeries and restaurants with which schools enter into contracts for supplying snacks and other foodstuff during the academic year.

Each and every school should see to it that the contract it signs, prior to the beginning of the academic year, with a restaurant or bakery contains the correct name and location of the supplier, duly checked and verified. Other set conditions should include the manner of transportation of the foodstuff.

The Ministry of Health should, on its part, whether alone or in conjunction with civic bodies, keep a regular check on restaurants and bakeries that supply foodstuff to schools, whether the food prepared was being made under hygienic conditions, using unadulterated and fresh ingredients. This step is vital because it is a known fact that most bakeries and restaurants that are engaged in the catering business, and supplying to schools, prepare the food overnight.

The important questions are: How and where is the foodstuff kept during the said period, from evening until the morning of the next day? How is the food transported to the schools? Only food that is safe to consume and not contaminated should be allowed to enter schools.

• UAE