Tightening school meal regulations: Low price is not the criterion for choosing suppliers

Deputy Prime Minister Le Tien Chau has just signed Official Dispatch No. 64/CD-TTg dated September 13, 2026 of the Prime Minister on strengthening food safety and quality assurance for boarding and day-boarding meals in educational institutions.

According to the Official Dispatch, local authorities and educational institutions have recently made great efforts to organize boarding and semi-boarding meals for children and students to ensure food safety and balanced nutrition. However, in some places, there remain shortcomings in selecting suppliers for food, meals, and catering services; controlling the origin and quality of ingredients; maintaining conditions for food preparation, transport, and storage; and designing menus and monitoring nutrition. These shortcomings pose potential food safety risks, compromising meal quality and nutritional value, as well as the health of children and students.

Local authorities bear full responsibility

Responsibility for managing boarding and semi-boarding meals

The Prime Minister requested the Chairpersons of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to direct and take overall responsibility for organizing boarding and semi-boarding meals at educational institutions in their jurisdictions; promptly review the implementation of Directive No. 33/CT-TTg dated August 14, 2026, and promptly rectify shortcomings and inadequacies to prevent lax management, lack of inspection and supervision, or unclear responsibilities when incidents occur.

Localities must strengthen inspection and supervision of food supplies, meals, and catering services; control the origin, quality of food, and conditions for processing, storage, transport, delivery, and food sample retention. Violating organizations and individuals must be strictly penalized; suppliers that fail to meet requirements must be resolutely suspended and replaced.

Under the decentralization framework, commune-level People's Committees are responsible for organizing the selection of and contracting with catering and meal service providers for public educational institutions under their management. The selection must be open, transparent, and objective, with food safety, quality, nutritional value, supply capacity, traceability, and the rights and interests of children and students as core criteria, rather than selecting suppliers based solely on low prices.

Tightening inspections, enhancing meal quality

The official telegram requires clarifying responsibilities among commune-level People's Committees, educational institutions, and catering suppliers in each stage of meal organization. Schools are directly responsible for receiving, inspecting, and supervising the quality and quantity of meals, food delivery, and meal management at school.

The education and health sectors, alongside commune-level authorities, are required to step up regular and surprise inspections of school canteens, catering, and food processing facilities, especially those supplying multiple schools or large numbers of students.

The Ministry of Education and Training is tasked with urgently finalizing and promulgating regulations on organizing boarding and day-boarding meals; collaborating with the Ministry of Health to guide the development of menus that provide adequate energy, balanced nutrition, and suit age groups, nutritional status, regional conditions, and meal budgets.

The Ministry of Health is tasked with reviewing, updating, and providing guidance on food safety and nutritional requirements for boarding and semi-boarding school meals; and directing local health authorities to strengthen inspections of facilities that produce, process, and supply food and meal sets to schools, especially large-scale facilities or those supplying multiple schools.

The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Education and Training to take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to focus on implementing the Official Dispatch, conducting regular inspections, urging progress, and reporting on implementation results.