Upper East Regional Coordinator of the School Feeding Programme, Georgina Ayamba has defended caterers under the programme over claims that they serve pupils with meals that are poor in quality.
According Madam Ayamba, although meals the caterers, particularly in the region, prepare may not be well garnished, they are nutritious.
She indicated that caterers under the programme are instructed to make use of local food stuff and ingredients in the preparation of meals.
As a result, there may not be available local ingredients to enhance the appearance of the food they cook.
But this, she said, does not affect the quality of the meals as quality, she argued, is not determined by appearance.
“You don’t determine the quality of food just by the appearance. We determine the quality of food based on what goes into the pot that will come out to tell you whether it’s a balanced meal or not,” she said.
The regional coordinator of the programme, who doubles as the governing New Patriotic Party Women’s Organizer for the region, was reacting to videos of meals that appear poor in quality purportedly being served to pupils in beneficiary schools making rounds on social media.
Citing an instance of such misconception of the appearance of food she claimed to have witnessed in the region, Madam Ayamba emphasised that food does not necessary have to look appealing to be nutritious.
“There was a caterer who used fresh tomatoes with dawadawa to prepare jollof. And you know fresh tomatoes when you used it to prepare jollof, the colour may not be as bright as when you’re using tomatoes paste.
So somebody took a picture that ‘see jollof, no oil there, look at the colour of the jollof’ and that day was closer to that school and when I got there, even the teachers enjoyed the meal,” she recounted.
She commended the caterers for continuously serving the children with nutritious meals despite the inadequate amount of money allocated to them and the delay in reimbursing them.
