Only one banana and one bread was the ration given by the PAE in several schools in Cartagena

Complaints from parents and the Personería de Cartagena evidenced the questionable ration that the PAE School Food Plan delivered to several schools in the district. According to the rations, they would have sent only one banana, in some cases a green banana, and a bread; failing to comply with the dairy product they have to provide to educational institutions.

On the non-compliance, the Cartagena District Education Secretariat indicated that operators had reported the non-compliance one day before the delivery, in the evening hours: “By e-mail, operators reported, at 10:00 p.m. on March 15, that they would not be able to deliver the complete rations due to alleged non-compliance with its suppliers of dairy products. According to the mail sent, Cartagena Express was expecting a load of 141,000 units of flavored milk and oats. The Children of La Heroica planned to receive a total of 120,000 units of dairy and oats. These products were intended to attend the days of 16, 17 and 18 March in all educational venues”.

According to the entity, the company Andina Milk, it would have lost contact around 6:30 in the afternoon with the vehicle responsible for transporting the dairy products, thus leaving no communication with the vehicle's GPS signal.

“The Cartagena District Education Secretariat regrets and rejects the late notice of operators and recalls that the arguments expressed do not exempt them from administrative and contractual decisions applied to them by the District within the framework of current contracts,” the entity assured.

For its part, the Personería assured that non-compliance in educational institutions was not an isolated event on 16 March, but on the contrary it has happened on other occasions throughout this year: “On the islands there was no delivery of the ration during the week of 21 to 25 February, in the week of 28 to 4 March some rations arrived in poor condition and the week of March 7 to 11 they did not arrive,” said the Personera Carmen de Caro Meza.

Due to this situation and the state of food, several institutions such as the Nuevo Bosque and Mother Laura, decided not to accept the rations. For its part, a detailed situation report is being made to see what legal action must be taken with the operators involved in the PAE school feeding contracts.

For more information on school feeding, so far this student year, in Boyacá, Antioquia, Risaralda, Cundinamarca and Meta, possible outbreaks of Foodborne Diseases (ETS) have been reported in meals delivered by the School Meal Plan (PAE). The Ministry of National Education (MEN), through its Food for Learning Unit (UAPA), and the Ministry of Health (MinSalud) are monitoring cases and some of the affected minors have undergone medical tests.

It was detailed that there are five municipalities in Boyacá where cases of ASD have been detected: Paipa, Sáchica, Belén, Soatá and Socotá. According to the epidemiological reports issued, the causes of the infections were related to a bacterium known as Bacillus Cereus, present in Nutralac whole milk powder, which was supplied through the PAE.

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