The menu is like in a restaurant: schoolchildren will be given bolognese and chili con carne

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Ukrainian politicians presented a new school menu. It is designed for 4 weeks, includes 160 dishes and has an enviable variety. Instead of mashed potatoes with sausages and sauerkraut, schoolchildren will be given vereshchaka, shpundra, fish in béchamel sauce and beef bolognese. The famous chef Evgeny Klopotenko worked on the development of the menu together with the CultFood project team, as well as nutritionists and technologists. The updated meals will be launched in schools from the new school year. In the meantime, each mother has 10 days to familiarize herself with the list of dishes on the website of the Ministry of Health and submit her suggestions and comments to it.

Sanitary food standards are not working well

The problem of improper and poorly balanced nutrition in school canteens did not arise yesterday. Seven out of ten Ukrainian mothers are unhappy with the way their child is fed at school. 1st grade sausages, boiled sausage, pasta and a handful of beetroot or cabbage salad - such a diet, also seasoned with a bun, can undermine the stomach of even an absolutely healthy child. A separate topic -

children with allergieswho need special meals. The lion's share of school canteens do not provide a separate menu for this, so mothers have to collect snacks for their child to school.

Just last year, officials finally launched a school feeding reform. From January 1 of this year came into force new sanitary standards on the organization of meals and requirements for the diet of schoolchildren. The menu excluded semi-finished meat products, sausages, sausages and flour confectionery such as buns. Energy drinks and soda were included in the list of products prohibited for sale. Technical regulations have reduced the amount of sugar, salt and saturated fat allowed in meals. Meat, milk and fruit were increased in the weekly diet.

In the updated sanitary rules, school catering units were given specific recommendations: what and how much can and should be put on a child's plate. However, not everyone was able to bring the menu to the new requirements. According to the results of unscheduled inspections that the State Food and Consumer Service conducted in schools since the beginning of this year, every fourth educational institution still violates nutritional norms. Obeying the Ministry of Health and removing sausage from the diet turned out to be quite simple. The same cannot be said about the recommended energy balance, the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, or the norms of consumption of sugar and salt.

New menu will become a must for schools

The new school menu is finally and irrevocably called upon to solve the problem of schoolchildren's nutrition. Yesterday it was presented by the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenskaya, Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko, Minister of Education Serhiy Shkarlet and Chef Yevgeny Klopotenko. A whole team of chefs and nutritionists of the CultFood project has been working on the development for more than six months. The result is a balanced and very varied menu with an emphasis on traditional Ukrainian cuisine and "notes" of European dishes.

The new menu is designed for 4 weeks (and not 2, as before), so there are many more dishes in it. The developers claim that there are as many as 160 of them. There are options for the autumn and winter menus. There is a separate menu for lunch in schools, as well as a whole list of options for seven-day five meals a day (for example, boarding schools or children's health institutions).

According to Evgeny Klopotenko, during the development, consultations were constantly conducted with nutritionists, so that the menu takes into account all the norms and requirements for the calorie content of products and their energy balance. “We have introduced traditional Ukrainian dishes, popular dishes of various cuisines of the world, as well as gluten-free items into the diet,” the chef said at the presentation to journalists. "In addition, the number of fruits and meat will be increased in the children's menu." Feature of new dishes: in cooking it is allowed to use natural herbs and spices (eg oregano) and natural sauces (ketchup, ginger, béchamel, bolognese). However, food still cannot be fried. The menu includes only boiled, stewed, steamed and baked dishes.

Now the draft menu is under discussion: before final agreement and approval, you can familiarize yourself with it on the website of the Ministry of Health. Officials say they are ready to accept wishes and comments from parents. To do this, they need to be stated in writing and sent to the Ministry of Health's e-mail. But as soon as the menu is adopted, each school will be obliged to follow the new rules and organize meals according to the approved diet. The developers claim that it will not be difficult. “Step-by-step recipes and technical maps are added to the menu, which will greatly facilitate the work of school cafeterias,” Klopotenko emphasized at the presentation.

“Many norms will come into force on September 1, so schools have enough time to prepare,” Elena Zelenskaya told reporters. At the same time, the first lady stressed that the reform of nutrition in schools should include not only changes in the menu. According to the results of a comprehensive study of the food system in Ukrainian schools, the situation with food preparation is very deplorable. A quarter of schools do not control the temperature of food in any way, and half of schools in villages and 40% in cities do not have premises and equipment at all for children to eat normally. Therefore, in addition to new dishes, before the start of the school year, it will be necessary to reform the catering units and train cooks.

An example of lunch for a school menu for a week

Monday

• Soft cheese and tomato salad
• Avgolemono soup
• Lazy stuffed cabbage rolls with beef
• Fresh (frozen) berry compote with mint and raisins
• Rye bread
• Fresh apples or pears

Tuesday

• Fresh beetroot salad with sour cream
• White soup with dumplings
• Vereshchaka from beef
• Loose buckwheat porridge
• Whole grain bread
• Melissa tea
• Fresh bananas

Wednesday

• Vegetable and egg salad
• Cabbage with pumpkin
• Fish sticks
• Ketchup sauce
• Loose rice with oregano
• Rye bread
• Fresh oranges or plums

Thursday

• Carrot and apple salad with Vinaigrette sauce
• Borsch with potatoes
• Sour cream
• Chicken baked in "Ginger" sauce
• Mashed potatoes with oregano
• Rye bread
• Fresh plums or apples

Friday

• Minestrone
• Chili con carne (beans with beef)
• The juice
• Whole grain bread
• Fresh bananas

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