Abstract

MOREIRA, Catarina; TEIXEIRA, Beatriz  and  SANTOS, Maria Cristina Teixeira. School Meals Service of the municipality of Gondomar: verification activities analysis. Acta Port Nutr [online]. 2020, n.22, pp.22-27. ISSN 2183-5985.  https://doi.org/10.21011/apn.2020.2205.

Introduction: In Portugal, the responsibility of school meals in Primary School and Kindergartens was transferred to the autarchies, with the majority of the municipalities in the North of Portugal having the meal offer service awarded. The safety, quality and quantity of food produced/supplied/ingested in schools have an impact on the health of children, justifying regular verification activities. Objectives: Analyze the verification activities of the school meal service in Primary Schools and Kindergartens within the public network of the Gondomar Municipality. Methodology: A descriptive and retrospective observational study was carried out between September 2016 and June 2018 in 46 of 84 schools under the responsibility of the Municipality. As working tools, two databases were created, one for recording, categorizing and analyzing the complaints of the service that supplies schools’ meals and snacks. And another database for processing and analyzing the internal checklist reports, which evaluates hygienic, technical and functional conditions and also the compliance with the technical clauses in the specifications. Results: It was found out that there were no records of verification activities in all schools. Besides, the working tools used and created cover the entirety of the technical clauses in the specifications, making possible their improvement. The quality of the food served received the largest number of complaints (n=130) and the "Preparation and confectionery zone" was the one with the highest number of non-conformities (n=133). Conclusions: The standardization of procedures for monitoring and intervention the evaluation of the meal supply service and the rules of the municipality through the use of standardized work tools is essential for improving the quality of the service.

Keywords : Specifications; Check List; Municipality; Complaint.

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