No plans to roll out central kitchen model to all schools: Jasmin Lau

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has no plans to introduce the central kitchen model to all school canteens, Minister of State for Education Jasmin Lau said on Tuesday (Feb 3).

Responding to questions from several MPs, she said there is also no target in mind to replace traditional canteens where students buy food from individual stallholders.

From last month, 13 schools had switched to the model where a single operator manages their canteens.

Lau said that the central kitchen model was not introduced to replace traditional canteens, but rather as an alternative to help schools that were struggling to attract stallholders and had severe shortages of functioning stalls.

"We want to avoid putting students in these schools at risk of not having good access to affordable, nutritious and balanced meals," she said.

Yusof Ishak Secondary School was the first to pilot the central kitchen model in 2022.

Lau said that after seeing "positive results", MOE decided to roll out the model to 13 additional schools that face challenges in securing sufficient stallholders.

Some of these schools are using hybrid models, she said.

These include operators delivering pre-ordered meals while also preparing fresh food on-site.

"We do see some positive outcomes in our schools. Students spend less time queueing for food during recess and have more time for play and interact with one another," said Lau, adding that the ministry is open to other approaches. 

"Parents have also shared that they now know what their children eat in school and can better support their children in achieving a balanced diet."

Several MPs also raised concerns about food safety of schools that adopt the central kitchen model.

This comes after the recent suspected gastroenteritis incidents at River Valley Primary School and North View Primary School.

River Valley Primary is under the central kitchen model, while North View Primary has traditional stallholders.

Lau said that Singapore Food Agency, MOE and the Communicable Diseases Agency are investigating the causes of both incidents.

[[nid:728307]]

chingshijie@asiaone.com