Controversy over canteens in Toulouse: an elected opposition member denounces the quality and quantity of meals served to children
The municipal councilor of the opposition in Toulouse Agathe Roby denounces, with supporting photos, the quality and quantity of the meals served each day in the canteens of the 210 Toulouse schools. She proposes to the municipal council to “eat the same thing as the children”.
The (recurring) subject of the quality and quantity of meals served in Toulouse schools resurfaces in Toulouse, one week before the Christmas holidays. The criticism this time comes from opposition municipal councilor Agathe Roby.
The member of the Alternative group for a citizen Metropolis translated, Thursday, December 8, a letter to the deputy mayor in charge of “Growing well” Marion Lalane de Laubadère and to the deputy of “Eating well” Jean-Jacques Bolzan for their ” make an offer “. Way for the opposition to put an end “to the exchanges interposed on the social networks”, in this case Twitter.
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Photos to prove that the quantities have dropped
“Indeed, writes Agathe Roby, and in order to show all the elected officials that the canteen offers quality food, as you say, I hereby ask you that we eat the same thing as the children. , of course with the quantities for adults during the next municipal councils. Like this, each adviser will be able in a certain way, to slip into school canteens and in the place of school children”.
In an attempt to eliminate the fact that primary school students do not eat their fill and in “reduced quantities”, the Toulouse elected representative provides photos “made by technical agents, animators, staff who work in the canteen in kindergarten”, she confides. Some photos show a plate with a chicken sleeve accompanied by carrots; an apple with a cheese finger wrapped in plastic; a plate of rice and white beans…
Quantities are calibrated
The quantities are indeed calibrated for kindergarten students. As a reminder, in Toulouse, the weight of plates came into force at the start of the 2021 school year following a decision by the city council, motivated by increasing food waste (30% of meals thrown in the trash).
Out of 35,000 meals served each day by the central kitchen to students from 210 Toulouse schools (nursery and elementary), more than 14 tonnes of food products are wasted each year, i.e. around 58,000 euros thrown in the trash. Despite these structural constraints, “there may be imperfections”, recognizes Jean-Jacques Bolzan.
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“I want Toulouse residents to take into account what the children eat in the canteen, insists Agathe Roby. For example, on Wednesdays, snacks are offered by the mother in kindergarten, it is generally a fruit that is almost never ripe, kiwis among others. Among other proposals, we recommend the establishment of a vegetable room in the central kitchen, and try to build spaces for cooking a minimum in the schools. What we see are unattractive plates, often without starches and the children fall back on bread. As a result, they don’t always eat and that doesn’t solve the waste problem. »
A controversy that does not date from yesterday in the Pink City
The controversy over what we eat in the canteen is not new. For a few decades, even, whether in schools, colleges or high schools. The progress is remarkable, more and more in schools which have the privilege of having their own kitchen. Since the previous mandate of the municipal majority, the parents of pupils, gathered in a collective (Qualité cantines Toulouse) had participated in improving the meals in the central kitchen. Elected officials organizing visits with parents must see the central kitchen working live. But regularly, the subject is controversial. As recently as last March, parents of pupils from the Bayard school were up in arms against the reduction of portions in the canteen, the children being forced to “choose between a starter or a dessert”.