Santo Domingo. – The National Institute for Student Welfare (INABIE) increased for this year inspections in kitchens, bakeries and milk processors that daily dispatch school food to more than 1.8 million students and educational personnel.
The decision is part of the strategic vision of the Executive Directorate headed by Víctor Castro, which seeks to strengthen the most far-reaching social program in the country, and guarantee faithful compliance with the Good Manufacturing Practices that suppliers are required by contract.
Inspections are carried out randomly by INABIE’s Food Quality Assurance Department, among other internal agencies that last year carried out 811 inspections at milk processing plants, lunch supply kitchens, and bakeries, in addition to 198 analyzes of products. in laboratories to ensure quality.
These numbers will be increased this year with the integration of a greater number of technicians, as well as supervision in schools by other neuralgic areas of the institution that are being strengthened.
The aforementioned Department highlighted that these evaluations allow INABIE to exercise greater and more efficient control and monitoring of suppliers in terms of compliance with the parameters established in the technical sheets and in the specifications.
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In these inspections, INABIE technicians verify, for example, that in the operation centers of the school food supplier companies there is no risk of contamination in the preparation of lunch or in the facilities where the supplier operates; that the staff working there also comply with hygiene standards; that after the preparation and transfer of lunch in the educational center, the organoleptic conditions of the same are preserved, among other requirements.
In these interventions, the technicians fill out some forms and depending on the score obtained by the supplier, INABIE can decide to maintain its contract, issue a non-compliance report if there is any irregularity, suspend it temporarily and give it a period of time to make the pertinent adjustments. to operate or, in the most serious of cases, suspend it permanently.
In addition, other of the measures implemented since last year by the current management to strengthen the PAE surveillance system, is the formation of school food reception committees in educational establishments.
These committees are made up of directors, teachers and representatives of the Association of Parents, Mothers and Friends of the School (AMPAE), who must supervise that school food is in suitable conditions to be served to students, or failing that, report incidents to INABIE through the corresponding channels.
“We are committed to bringing each student quality food and ensuring that no student misses out on the bread of education every day for lack of a ration of food, because at INABIE they have a guaranteed breakfast and lunch,” Castro said.
