Poorly preserved food, meals prepared without respecting basic hygiene standards, dirty kitchens, even the presence of insects and mouse excrement. The checks carried out by the Nas Carabinieri in school canteens throughout Italy in the last month have involved a thousand collective catering companies operating within institutions of all levels, from nursery schools to secondary schools and universities, both public and private.
Among the controlled companies, 257 highlighted irregularities, equal to 27%, ascertaining 361 criminal and administrative violations, resulting in the imposition of fines of 192 thousand euros, contested due to violations in the management and conservation of food and in hygiene conditions. in the premises, in the failure to comply in quality and quantity with the requirements established by the tender specifications.
The suspension of activity or the seizure of 13 kitchen/food storage areas was also ordered due to significant hygienic-sanitary and structural deficiencies, such as the widespread presence of humidity and mold growth. Among the extreme cases, the closure of a nursery in the province of Taranto, which was not registered, and whose water supply was made with water “not suitable for food use”. Overall, over 700 kilos of foodstuffs (meat, cheese, bread, pasta, mineral water) were seized, found to have no traceability, expired validity and stored in inadequate environments.
Particular situations involved the reporting to the judicial authorities of 18 managers of canteen services, held responsible for fraud and non-compliance in public supplies for having packaged meals of a lower quality and weight than that agreed upon, in violation of the contractual specifications.
The majority of irregularities instead concerned structural and managerial deficiencies in the preparation of meals, the lack of traceability of food and the failure to communicate the presence of any allergens, essential for the prevention of possible episodes of allergic reaction, in particular in sensitive groups of school users.
The inspection campaign began at the beginning of the school year and aims to verify the catering services and catering companies assigned to manage the canteens at the institutes.
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