A survey on lunch in Beijing's primary schools

Problem 1:　Heat preservation

Long delivery time influences taste of food

How to ensure that students can enjoy warm meals as winter has come? The reporter learned that due to long delivery time, some students said that they cannot enjoy warm meals and the meals do not taste good.

"The temperature of meals out of kitchen should reach 90 degrees centigrade and that of delivering to school must above 63 degrees centigrade, which is suitable for students." A delivery worker said that their company supplies more than 20 primary and secondary schools of Xicheng District and Fengtai District with nutritious lunches, delivering over 10,000 meals every day. Usually, the meals are prepared between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. and delivered to school at about 11:30 a.m. Due to long distance and traffic jam, the company cannot ensure a proper temperature of the meals sometimes. In a school of Fengtai District, the lunches are prepared in advance, so they are only slightly warm when being sent to the hands of students.

Problem 2: Lunch time

Some students do not get enough to eat

Can students fill their bellies with the meal? The parents of children of a primary school complained that their children cannot get enough to eat. In a primary school of Dongcheng District, students get meals in groups, with each of them getting a share of rice, vegetables and meat diet, and they can also eat some pastries wrapped in a plastic bag for complement. But the pastries are limited for children.

The mealtime is short so a slight delay will make students have not too much time to eat meals. The lunch time of primary and secondary school students is arranged between noon and 12:40 p.m. Once some teacher extends class time, the students' lunch time will be accordingly reduced.

Problem 3: About varieties and tastes of food

Meat diet is popular while vegetables are left over

Some male students of a primary school on the West Fourth Ring Road asked the school administrator to increase meat diet, but the vegetables often are left over largely. The teachers said that students do not eat vegetables or eat too many snacks so they often do not feel hungry in mealtime.

In addition to the waste of picky eaters, non-delicious meals also lead to a large number of leftovers. A parent had witnessed the scene of students eating lunch when handling affairs in a primary school of Xicheng District. "I saw many children left over food and asked them why. They had an answer surprisingly consistent: The food is terrible! I made a rough calculation and found that among 36 students in a class, 65 percent eat less than one-third of their meals, 25 percent eat about a half and few students eat them up," the parent said. Parents showed their concern about the taste of lunches.

Problem 4: About bringing meals from home

Most of interviewed schools do not advocate that parents send meals or children bring them from home

In order to improve the quality of lunches, some parents send meals or let their children bring meals to school. Should students bring their own meals to school? To this question, the majority of interviewed schools gave a negative answer. On the one hand, the taste of meals will affect normal teaching order. On the other hand, it is an inequality that some students can enjoy meals prepared by their parents but others cannot.