Regular check of east Visayas school canteens pushed

TACLOBAN CITY, Jan. 5  -- Alarmed by reports that half of the region’s school canteens have poor sanitation practices, the Regional Development Council (RDC) is pushing for regular inspection of school-based food establishments in Eastern Visayas.

RDC-Social Development Committee chairperson Edgardo Esperancilla said Friday there are proposals for stronger ties among the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Health (DOH) and local governments to curb poor sanitation among school-based food establishments.

“To combat the need to prevent the occurrence of food- and water-borne diseases in the schools, a strong collaboration is necessary to monitor compliance to Presidential Decree No. 856 or the Code on Sanitation of the Philippines,” said Esperancilla, regional chief of the Department of Science and Technology.

In a 2016 study by the DOH and Leyte Normal University, it was found that 45 percent of secondary schools in the region have poor canteen sanitary conditions and food handling practices.

The official said the health department pushed for the study after a typhoid fever outbreak occurred when several students of Maypandang National High School consumed contaminated food sold at the school canteen in 2015.

Esperancilla is optimistic that the collaboration would compel concerned agencies and local government units to regularly check school canteens to monitor their compliance to the country’s Sanitation Code. (SQM/PNA)