04.06.2024. Working meeting of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the school feeding reform team: steps to implement school feeding reform

On June 4, 2024, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the school nutrition reform team held a workshop to summarize the work on the Collection of school meal recipes and outline further actions for testing, reviewing, and publishing the Collection.

The meeting was held at the National University of Food Technologies under the chairmanship of Andrii Stashkiv, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, in the presence of Oleksandr Shevchenko, Rector of the National University of Food Technologies; Orest Stepaniak, Head of the National Food Association, Head of the School Nutrition Reform Team; Tetiana Skapa, State Expert of the Expert Group on the Formation of State Policy on Healthy Lifestyles and Risk Factors of the Public Health Directorate of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine; Maria Hulich, Head of the Laboratory of Nutrition Hygiene and Safety of Food Products at the State Institution «Marzieiev Institute for Public Health of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine»; Anastasiia Shevchenko, expert of the School Nutrition Reform Team; Dariia Basiuk, expert of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine; and 36 representatives of the working group – highly qualified professionals.

By the Strategy for Reforming the School Nutrition System for 2023-2027, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on 27.10.2023 No. 990-r, work was organized on the preparation of a Collection of Recipes and Technological Maps for School Meals on December 1, 2023. The meeting summarized the results of the work during this time and identified the prospects for the second stage of work on the development of the Collection of school meals in the context of implementing the school meals reform. The modern concept of the School Food Recipes Collection was presented: experience, innovations, and steps to implementation. Reports on the work of the heads of the working subgroups were presented.

Professor Mariia Hulich, Doctor of Sciences (Medicine), the Head of the Laboratory of Nutrition Hygiene and Safety of Food Products at the State Institution «Marzieiev Institute for Public Health of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine,» participated in the meeting as a speaker.

She emphasized that the reform of school meals aims to ensure healthy, high-quality, and safe nutrition for children. She also noted that the Institute’s specialists have considerable experience developing three previous Collections of recipes and technological maps of dishes for school meals (2019, 2022, 2024).

She noted the need for an integrated approach and close cooperation between food technologists and doctors in further work on the Collection’s second stage. She expressed her opinion on the need to indicate the possibility of using the dish in a gluten-free and/or lactose-free diet for children with special dietary needs when preparing technological cards.

She emphasized the need to separate the dishes intended for use in a one-time meal regimen in general secondary education institutions in a separate chapter.

She proposed holding international scientific and practical conferences to exchange and popularize the experience gained in Ukraine in developing the Collection of recipes and technological maps for healthy, high-quality, and safe school meals according to the School Nutrition Reform Strategy.

The meeting concluded with the adoption of the «Resolution of the workshop of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the School Meals Reform Team.» This resolution, which positively evaluated the work of the first stage of the School Food Recipe Collection, outlined the next steps for preparing the Collection for publication.