China launches first national standard on school meal services

BEIJING -- China has released its first national standard specifically targeting school meal services, scheduled to take effect on Dec 1 this year, the country's State Administration for Market Regulation announced Monday.

The Guidelines for the Management of School Meal Service Enterprises will apply to enterprises that provide meal preparation and delivery services to primary and secondary schools and kindergartens.

China now has more than 460,000 primary and secondary schools and kindergartens, involving over 237 million students.

The guidelines stated that enterprises must designate full-time staff responsible for food safety management and inspection.

Enterprises are required to purchase major ingredients such as rice, flour and oil from designated suppliers, and retain testing reports for each batch of raw materials.

Meal preparation should be integrated into the internet-enabled transparent kitchen monitoring system, with key operational procedures publicly accessible to schools, parents and students, according to the guidelines.