Moldovan PM says children must benefit from varied menu, able to provide them good growth

Chisinau, 20 October /MOLDPRES/ - Prime Minister Ion Chicu today had a meeting with the head of the National Association of Restaurants and Leisure Buildings from Moldova, Aneta Zasavitchi, as well as other representatives of the HoReCa sector. The sides discussed measures of optimizing the work of the public nourishment sector in schools and pre-school institutions, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.  
Attending the meeting were also Finance Minister Serghei Puscuta, Health, Labour and Social Protection Minister Viorica Dumbraveanu, the director general of the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA), Vladislav Cotici and the Chisinau deputy mayor, Inga Ionesii.  
The participants in the meeting proposed more models as to the implementation of a new mechanism of managing the public nourishment in schools and kindergartens and analyzed the option of setting up a centralized enterprise of public nourishment. Also, the sides analyzed possibility of increasing the financial norms allocated for children’s nourishment, optimize the procedures of public procurements and adjust the menu according to recommendations by World Health Organization’s experts.  
PM Chicu noted that the priority was to ensure the quality of products from the system of public nourishment from education institutions. ‘’We must identify a new concept, based on products’ quality. Children should benefit from a varied menu, which is to provide them with a new growth and, in this respect the most important criterion in the process of public procurements must be the quality, not the price. On the other hand, the children’s nourishment in schools should not become a business,’’ the prime minister said.    
Ion Chicu was also informed about the implementation of a pilot project on the organization of the nourishment of children and pupils in the education institutions from Straseni, central Moldova. ‘’It is necessary that we analyze the efficiency of this project and possibility of multiplying in other regions. Nevertheless, it is important to study also other international models, in order to find the best solution for Moldova,’’ the PM added.  
Photo source: Government