Jiang Wanan inspected Chengyuan High School and announced the "4 New Deals" for nutritious lunches. 2 Policies were discussed last month

A case of collective food poisoning among 87 teachers and students who ate nutritious lunches occurred at Taipei Municipal Chengyuan High School in central China. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan went to Chengyuan High School today (6th) to learn about the supply situation of nutritious lunches. He announced an improved plan, including the teacher's nutritious lunch guidance fee will be increased from the current 2,000 yuan per month to 3,000 yuan starting from February next year; and 15 additional nutritionists will be hired. In addition, for the affected teachers and students, the school has assisted in the settlement of claims, which will be paid by manufacturers and their insurance companies based on the results of the epidemic investigation. Each person who seeks medical treatment will receive 4,000 yuan, each person who is unwell but does not seek medical treatment will receive 2,000 yuan, and each person who is asymptomatic will receive 400 yuan. This will be completed as soon as possible in the near future.

The Education Bureau pointed out that Chengyuan High School had previously experienced problems with the quality of its food supply. The contract was terminated and tenders were re-invited after fines were imposed in accordance with the law. Today, Jiang Wanan inspected the food supply situation after the new manufacturer moved in to understand the improvement of the school's food preparation, quality management and food supply process. Jiang Wanan emphasized that there is no room for compromise on campus food safety. Problems must be dealt with immediately when problems are discovered. What is more important is to prevent the problem from happening again from the institutional perspective.

Taipei City will promote the policy of free nutritious lunches for elementary and middle schools this semester. Jiang Wanan said that there is no room for compromise on school food safety, and there is no room for any negligence in the health of children. Regarding the quality of school lunches that are of concern to all walks of life, the city government will never evade the issue. The Education Bureau has worked with relevant bureaus and offices to take a comprehensive inventory and will further promote four major improvement plans.

First, form a "Prefectural School Nutritious Lunch Steering Committee" to improve the level of food safety management. The Education Bureau will plan to establish a provincial-level steering committee to integrate administrative agencies such as the Industry Bureau, Health Bureau, and Environmental Protection Bureau, and invite parent groups, school representatives, and experts and scholars in the food and nutrition fields to participate. Through cross-bureau horizontal coordination and professional supervision, school lunch food safety management will be strengthened so that problems can be reported immediately and effectively handled.

Second, the lunch guidance fee will be increased from 2,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan per month. It will be implemented in February next year, covering kindergarten, elementary school and junior high school tutors and lunch staff, about 10,112 people. Third, hire 15 additional nutritionists to strengthen professional supervision and nutrition education, reduce the workload of existing personnel, and establish three professional groups: "food safety control", "food waste reduction" and "food waste education" to strengthen campus meal supervision, food safety risk prevention and nutrition education, so that every nutritious lunch can take into account safety, health and sustainability.

Fourth, from 2026 to 2028, at least 140 million yuan will be invested to comprehensively upgrade kitchens and insulation equipment. The Education Bureau plans to provide large-scale subsidies for school kitchen repairs and equipment updates, strengthen insulation performance during meal preparation, distribution, and meal serving, and subsidize insulation equipment above 60°C to improve the school meal hardware environment so that children can eat safe, hygienic, hot and nutritious lunches at school.

In fact, Vice Mayor Lin Yihua led the bureau to hold a press conference on the 30th of last month. Education Director Tang Zhimin also announced six measures to improve nutritious lunches, including the establishment of a government-level nutritious lunch steering committee and insulation equipment. The new policy announced by Jiang Wanan today only increased the lunch guidance fee and hired additional nutritionists.

Regarding students who were victims of food poisoning, the Education Bureau said that a food poisoning incident occurred in the hot food department of Chengyuan High School. The Education Bureau immediately asked the school to deal with it strictly. The school has terminated the contract and completed the bidding process again to ensure the students' dining rights. The school has assisted the affected teachers and students to make compensation, which will be paid by the manufacturer and its insurance company based on the results of the epidemic investigation. The compensation will be 4,000 yuan for each person who seeks medical treatment, 2,000 yuan for each person who is unwell and does not seek medical treatment, and 400 yuan for each person who is asymptomatic. The compensation will be completed as soon as possible. In addition, regarding campus food safety management, if there is a breach of contract, the school can directly implement sanctions according to the contract.