The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 14th that it will conduct hygiene inspections of school and kindergarten group meal service centers and food preparation and sales establishments near schools that cater to children in celebration of the new school term.
This inspection will be carried out by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in cooperation with local governments and education offices from the 28th of this month to the 15th of next month, targeting a total of about 10,000 locations nationwide, including 4,100 group meal service centers in elementary, middle, and high schools, 1,900 group meal service centers in kindergartens, and 4,700 food material suppliers.
The Ministry plans to check whether these facilities and businesses use or store products past their expiration (or distribution) dates, handle unsanitary food, use raw materials that are spoiled, deteriorated, or unlabeled, properly manage hygiene in cooking facilities, and whether preserved foods are stored appropriately.
Additionally, cooking utensils and prepared foods used for meals will be collected and tested to check for contamination by food poisoning bacteria. Due to the recent continuous heatwaves, careless food handling or neglect of personal hygiene can cause food poisoning, so education and publicity on food poisoning prevention rules such as handwashing and norovirus prevention methods will also be conducted.
Furthermore, from the 28th of this month to the 22nd of next month, hygiene management inspections will be conducted on about 36,000 establishments preparing and selling children’s favorite foods within children’s food safety protection zones, such as school stores and snack bars. The inspections will also verify whether foods that negatively affect the emotions of children and adolescents are being sold.
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