KUWAIT: Thenational project for the development of the healthy school canteen is one ofthe important methods and tools recently adopted by the Kuwaiti Ministry ofEducation to strengthen the nutritional status of school students incooperation with Kuwait Flour Mills and Bakery Company. This initiativeencourages students to change the wrong habits and adopt positive behavior byproviding food to reduce the incidence of nutritional-related diseases.
In March, theMinistry of Education began implementing the project initially on eight schoolsfor experimentation. Health products were presented by Flour Mills Company inpreparation for the expansion of the project next year to include primaryschools and then include all stages. This project was applied to these schoolsas a first step in cooperation with the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health, theKuwait's Public Authority for Food and Nutrition and the Kuwait Flour Mills andBakeries Company to provide various and safe food items for school students.The project seeks to develop the school canteen to provide a variety ofnutritious food at affordable prices for school students in order to improvetheir health and to reduce the risk factors leading to no communicablediseases.
In this context,Kuwait Flour Mills and Bakeries Company CEO Mutlaq Al-Zayed said that thecanteen project is aimed to introduce the company's products in canteens withthe approved specifications of Kuwait's Public Authority for Food and Nutritionin order to preserve the health of school students. Zayed added that thecompany and its partners represented by the Ministry of Education and the Foodand Nutrition Authority have developed an objective plan for the project consistingof three phases aimed at preserving the health of the students in terms ofnational responsibility. He explained that the first phase included theadoption of samples of the company's varieties by the Food and NutritionAuthority after conducting several questionnaires for students to know theirfavorite products.
As for the secondphase, it began supplying samples to eight schools from different stages andgovernorates to test the products and undergo a trial period of 3 weeks, hesaid. He added that during this period, questionnaires would be conducted forstudents after the experiment, noting that the third phase will be the actualsupply starting from the next school year for all primary schools.
He said that thenumber of products offered by the company in the canteens amounted to about 31products of different flavors ranging from 100 fils to 250 fils Kuwaiti ($0.32to $0.81). He added that the mechanism of work in the project is now throughthe delivery of the company's products to the school's canteens, which areresponsible for the purchase, pointing out that there is a trend in the futureto use vending machines in schools to sell products of the company. - KUNA