The Children's Ombudsman stated that a strict mechanism must be introduced to prevent entities that supplied low-quality food products for children from engaging in such activities again.
It was noted that failure to comply with legislative requirements and established standards for ensuring child food safety, and the insufficiently effective implementation of control mechanisms in this area, are resulting in cases of harm to children's health.
The negative situation that occurred recently in a number of preschool educational institutions in the Tashkent region is a clear testament to this.
Certainly, the investigative authorities must provide a full legal assessment of the situation and strict liability measures must be applied to all guilty parties within the framework of the law.
At the same time, to prevent such unpleasant situations, particularly to ensure food safety for children in educational institutions, strict quality control must be established over compliance with the standards regulating the field.
Such a quality control mechanism should be implemented through constant monitoring of the system for providing child nutrition services. Specifically, it is necessary to continuously study the extent to which service provider (outsourcer) companies comply with sanitary rules, norms, and hygiene standards in their activities, whether food products meet established requirements, and other standards.
Furthermore, when concluding contracts for providing child nutrition services, it is necessary to eliminate corruption risks by minimizing the human factor.
Another important preventive measure is the introduction of a strict mechanism that prevents entities that supplied low-quality food products for children from engaging in such activities again.
The results of the study of problems in the field of child food safety by the representative for children's rights, along with proposals for their elimination, will be submitted to the relevant authorities.
Children's health is the health of the nation; we must take all necessary measures to protect it and eliminate any dangerous factors.
