Following years in which pupils and parents have railed against the State policy of ‘bussed in school food’, the national association of state school directors is calling on the education ministry to allow all schools to cook their own meals again. The association’s president Filinto Lima explains that schools that still have working canteens “serve much better food in terms of quantity and quality” than those that don’t.
And that is putting it diplomatically.
Only last month, national and social media rounded on a school in Braga where one pupil filmed a worm writhing across her plate.
The food was supplied by a company that has been ‘fined’ by local authorities for issues in the past – but as Lima explained, the government pays caterers between €1.18 and €1.47 per meal, so it is not surprising that results have been lacklustre, or even a little scary.
