I.Metshin: "Working in Kazan food suppliers must ensure the health of children"

(Kazan City KZN.RU, December 1, Ksenia Shvetsova). Pre-school and educational institutions of Kazan should be provided only with quality food. The city authorities keep food safety issue under special control. Product suppliers must seriously work on its quality. Otherwise, they will be enrolled in the "black list". Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin made such a warning today at a meeting.

The main theme of the meeting, which was also attended by director of MUE "Department of food and social supply of Kazan" Guzel Ananieva and deputy head of the Executive Committee Ivan Kuznetsov, was the issues of ensuring supply of the social institutions of Kazan with all necessary product, despite the difficult political relations. Also the participants discussed the issues of the quality of food - according to the inspection of products supplied, it is not always satisfactory.

The level of organization of nutrition in social institutions of Kazan is growing. MUE "Department of food and social supply of Kazan" serves about 500 institutions in the city, total of more than 178 thousand people daily. Recently the agency has strengthened the work on checking products from suppliers, and as experience has shown, it is not in vain - often trucks with food are sent back.

"In recent years the Department of food has become a major player in the market of public catering of our republic. Total 1 billion rubles invested in its modernization. Today we have one of the most developed network of school meals - we went to this systematically - I. Metshin addressed the audience. - I call upon the fact that we had long-term cooperation. First of all our children are behind the department, and there is nothing more important than their health for us. Through this prism you must build all the work". Not all supplier firms follow this principle, - Guzel Ananieva said, 440 tons from 13 thousand tons of products delivered to the department were discarded.

Product checks for compliance with all standards are held on the basis of specially created laboratory of the department, which is equipped with modern technique and allows to do all the safety tests, to determine the content of nitrates in vegetables and fruits and much more. "We hold entrance tests of all products. If we define low-quality producer, then we check his every shipment"- G.Ananeva tells. In addition, the laboratory daily travels to schools and kindergartens and checks the products, including - how it behaves after heat treatment.

Now all suppliers who were "caught" in the supply of low-quality products even have a risk of losing the possibility of cooperation with the department. "If after checking in the laboratory the same provider is caught with poor-quality product more than two times, we need to stop further work with him. In this case we are guided by the main principle - the preservation of the health of children "- said the Mayor.

Thus the main issue today is the supply of fruits and vegetables in schools and kindergartens. This theme was raised at the last Business Monday by Ilsur Metshin, who instructed to provide children with a balanced menu any way. Suppliers have promised that no major faults will arise. For example, according to the head of one of the suppliers Maryam Gasanguseynova about 50-70% of fruits and vegetables they received from Turkey. But now they understand that it is necessary to look for alternatives. "We are trying to find new suppliers in difficult conditions. Now we can say with confidence that the problem is almost solved. We plan to deliver citrus from Egypt and Israel, looking for suppliers in Serbia - said M.Gasanguseynova. - I can assure that we will try to do with all the complexities with the minimum trading margin".

In addition, suppliers asked to revise the payment terms, reducing it from 45 days to 30. In the near future this issue will be solved, according to I.Kuznetsov.

Questions of products supply to the social institutions of the city will continue to be under the scrutiny of the authorities. "I would not like to use the mechanism of exclusion of suppliers from our partners. If you do not want to get into the "black list", work on products quality, - I. Metshin addressed suppliers. - And we promise to improve the quality of work in the direction of funding; we set ourselves such a task in the next 30 days. We are interested in establishing of long-term relationships".