Members of the Public Council of the Aktobe region conducted a monitoring of 80% of school canteens in Aktobe. The inspection revealed numerous violations, concerning both sanitary requirements and short-weighting of products. In response, representatives of small businesses accused the public activists of breaking the law and lodged complaints with the supervisory authorities.
According to Ratel.kz, the public activists found that in one school, a portion of meat contained only 32 grams instead of the required 90. In other canteens, cases were recorded of missing health certificates, the use of expired cleaning products, and failure to comply with dishwashing standards. Some tenants obstructed the commission's access, later sending complaints to the Atameken Chamber of Entrepreneurs and the prosecutor's office.
The Republican Association of Retail Trade and Public Catering spoke on behalf of the entrepreneurs, stating that the Public Council had illegally interfered in entrepreneurial activity, violated the Entrepreneurial Code, and usurped the functions of the sanitary service.
In support of its case, the association cited an order from the Ministry of Education and Science, which stipulates that monitoring of the quality of school meals should be carried out by an internal commission involving the school administration and the parents' committee.
The Public Council, for its part, denies any violations during the inspection. The chairperson of the council, Tattygul Talayeva, emphasised that the inspections were conducted with the permission of the tenants and concerned the quality of a service financed from the budget.
"We were checking the quality of a public service – school meals, financed from the budget – not private economic activity," Talayeva stated.
According to her, the budget allocates 6.8 billion tenge for feeding primary school pupils and 1.7 billion tenge for feeding schoolchildren from socially vulnerable categories.
Talayeva noted that entrepreneurs invest in canteen infrastructure, although 300 million tenge was spent on equipping school meal units in the region in 2023–2024.
She claims that, despite this, rental rates are low, and income from one school can reach 100 million tenge per month. According to the council, one entrepreneur rents 20 canteens, and another rents 13.
According to Talayeva, the Sanitary and Epidemiological Service (SES) can only inspect school canteens in the event of a poisoning incident.
"So, we have to wait for a poisoning to inspect a school canteen? Otherwise, sanitary doctors can be held accountable for violating the same Entrepreneurial Code. Is that normal?" Talayeva protested.
Members of the Public Council also drew attention to the fact that schools in Aktobe universally use ultra-pasteurised milk from Kostanay, even though there are two fresh milk producers operating in the region.
"Local producers are ready to supply schools with a fresh and much healthier product, but for some reason they remain unclaimed. No one is interested in this, including the local Atameken," Talayeva stated.