What did the school and kitchen explain about the "meager" 32,000 VND meals for students?

According to the parents, the meal cost 32,000 VND but only had a small piece of ham, a little potato and 3-4 pieces of fried fish, with a few bean sprouts. Another day, the menu was still just a little potato, 3-4 small pieces of fried fish and a small piece of meat.

School principal Hoang Thi Thu Trinh said that immediately after the incident, the school worked with Hoa Sua Company, the company immediately sent people to monitor the kitchen from October 11-14, the school also seriously learned from experience in managing the boarding kitchen.

At the same time, the school has also sent a report to all levels. Accordingly, Yen Nghia Secondary School signed a contract with Hoa Sua Food Processing and Trading Company Limited to provide boarding meals for students with a quantity of 450 - 500 meals/day. The price of a meal is 32,000 VND (including 8% VAT, labor, fuel, processed food, depreciation of cooking facilities). The menu is selected and publicly approved by the school and parents.

Every day, the school sends staff and parents' representatives to inspect the food preparation process in the boarding kitchen. The parents' representative committee has a schedule of regular and surprise inspections.

Ms. Trinh admitted that although the parties had plans and assigned tasks to manage food inputs, processing, and distributing meals to students, it was still difficult to avoid mistakes. For example, on October 11-12, there was a shortage of food for students as parents reported.

“After the incident, from October 16, Hoa Sua Company decided to change the head chef and 2 assistant chefs, replacing them with other kitchen staff. The company and the food supplier have acknowledged the shortcomings,” said Ms. Trinh.

Ms. Trinh also explained that each meal includes 7 types of costs, including: food price 24,820 VND, labor 3,300 VND, electricity and water 230 VND, asset depreciation 500 VND, VAT 2,560 VND, cleaning 320 VND, expected profit 270 VND.

Present at the meeting, Mr. Vu Thanh Binh - Deputy Director of Hoa Sua Catering Trading and Processing Company Limited (the unit providing meals for boarding students at the school) sent an apology to the school board and parents' association after the recent incident.

The company confirmed that on October 11-12, because the food distributors did not distribute the food evenly, some trays had less food. The food distributors admitted their mistakes, the company organized a review of the experience and shortcomings, and assigned additional people to supervise the kitchen.

"After the incident, the company decided to change the chef," said a representative of Hoa Sua company.

Explaining the incident of missing 3.5 kg out of a total of 500 meals, a representative of Hoa Sua company said that the food supplier had also admitted, explained and apologized.

Ms. Bui Thi Nga, Deputy Head of the Parents' Association of Yen Nghia Secondary School, commented: “We want our children to have meals that ensure food safety and hygiene. In particular, the current meal quantity is very small compared to the age group. Therefore, I request the kitchen unit to coordinate with the school to increase the food quantity. At the same time, there needs to be specific and clear reporting data so that parents can monitor, supervise and grasp the eating situation of their children while at school.”