The State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection (State Prodspivzhivsluzhba) has published clarifications regarding the assortment permitted for sale in school canteens. According to RBC-Ukraine, citing a publication by the agency's press service on Facebook, students can independently choose snacks during breaks, but the list of products available in school canteens is significantly narrower than the assortment of a regular grocery store.
Restrictions on Added Products
The agency emphasized that products for school canteens must meet a number of requirements, in particular — be produced without the addition of certain components, the list of which is established by regulatory acts. At the same time, the State Prodspivzhivsluzhba clarified that sugars naturally occurring in foods are not restricted. This means that natural fruits, dairy products, and other items with natural sugar content are allowed for sale, whereas artificially sweetened and processed products are subject to a ban.
Prohibited and Permitted Categories
According to the established rules, school canteens are prohibited from selling a whole range of products that are freely available in retail trade. At the same time, the agency determined the list of items that canteens are entitled to offer children for snacking during the educational process. Specific lists of prohibited and permitted goods are enshrined in current regulatory documents and are subject to mandatory compliance by all schools in the country.
Transparency and Responsibility
Information about the product assortment in the school canteen must be available to students and their parents — on an information board, on the educational institution's website, or through other communication channels. Specific entities are responsible for the proper organization of meals and compliance of the assortment with established requirements within their duties, which is recorded in the agency's explanation.
Reaction to Violations
The State Prodspivzhivsluzhba appealed to citizens with a call to report cases of discovering prohibited products in school canteens. “A school canteen is not just a place for a snack. It is part of children's safe and healthy nutrition,” the agency emphasized, noting that control over compliance with requirements extends not only to the administrative level, but also to the public one.
