In Secondary School No. 1 in the village of Zerenda, Akmola Region, children were fed leftover food.
According to “Nayza Kokshe”, a resident of the village, Meruert Kulagannova, described how she worked as a cook at Secondary School No. 1. She shared that, on the orders of the canteen manager, staff collected leftover food, stored it in the freezer, and then served it to children of the second shift.
According to Meruert, she even contacted the prosecutor's office but received no action. Despite the fact that “the facts of waste-free canteen production were voiced”, the inspection was closed without any consequences. She also stated that cooks were instructed to collect leftover milk from glasses into a bucket and dilute it with water.
“Only 20 cartons of milk were delivered for 300 children in one day. Leftover cutlets from the first shift were collected and given to children of the second shift. Cheap mince, 10 kilograms, was delivered from IP Grishin; bread and semolina were added, the aim being to make it stretch for everyone. A cutlet was supposed to be 80 grams for junior classes and 120 for seniors. But the children received 70 grams each,” the woman reported.
She also said that, on instructions, the cooks froze leftover cutlets, pastries, and pilaf, and fed these to the children a week later.
In addition, it emerged that the business owner did not pay her employees their wages and did not make pension contributions.
For context, earlier, prosecutors in the Zhetysu Region identified more than 300 breaches of sanitary and epidemiological standards and fire safety regulations in the region's educational institutions.