A HEALTHY CHANGE AT SCHOOL'S DINING HALL

In addition to plasticizer, antibiotics and lean pork drugs were also detected in meat products in school lunches.

To ensure food safety, the chief of Shichou Township of Changhua County now demand lunch caterers to use fresh, locally grown food materials, and school principals were even paying visits to local farmers to ensure food quality.

To improve the quality of food served in the township's public day care centers, the Shichou Township chief has started a food revolution starting this March, by changing the ways lunch manufacturers produce and deliver the foods.

Originally, lunches served in the public day care centers are first cooked by the food service companies and then delivered to the nine day care centers.

But now, the township chief has set up kitchens in every public day care center, where the food companies will prepare freshly-made food to the kids at the center.

Township chief Huang Sheng-lu said that most schools outsource the lunch and the bidding company with the lowest bid would get the case.

However, it cannot guarantee the quality of food provided to our children.

So this year, the township decides to change the school lunch production process by establishing kitchens right next to the day care centers.

It will provide kids with freshly cooked food and prevent chances of contamination in the process of transportation.

The township has especially asked the food service companies to serve only locally produced foods to the kids, a eco-friendly way to help reduce the foods' carbon footprint.

The township chief said many people have never thought about the food quality of the lunch served at schools, and he hopes that the food revolution started in Shichou Township can spread to other places, to help our kids to have a healthy school meal.

Besides, the township chief also said that since the implementation of the project, children are having a growing interest in the food they eat, especially when they know that these food are locally grown and even get a chance to meet the farmers.

Children will find that their lunch contain the champion rice of the township, pesticide-free cucumbers, tomatoes, winter melon, yam and even the famous tofu and hand-made noodles.

Teachers at the day care centers are also surprised to know that there are actually so many kinds of fine quality agricultural products in the township.

The project also benefits the local farmers, who get to promote their fine produce through the project, while helping the residents know more about the agriculture in their hometown.

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