Cases of child food poisoning have been recorded in kindergartens in Fergana city. The food supplier firm was selected without a tender by decision of the regional hokim, and its officials are accused in a criminal case for violating sanitary requirements. Does this indicate opacity in the child nutrition system? What is the problem? Who is responsible? These issues were discussed in the Kun.uz studio.
Recent poisonings in kindergartens, criminal cases against supplier firms, and referral of materials to court suggest unresolved systemic issues.
To understand the causes and consequences, Kun.uz conducted a discussion with experts. Participants included doctor Muazzam Ibragimova and gastroenterologist Zilola Khodjieva.
Muazzam Ibragimova: "If we do not clean up this system from the ground up and involve specialists who understand the field, this will continue. When I heard about the poisoning of children, I was shocked. Why didn't I write more? Why didn't I fight more actively? Because I had long warned that children could end up in such a situation. I appealed to government representatives, wrote analytical articles, even to the president, but unfortunately, no one responded."
Ibragimova blamed Kuvasay city hokim Zafarbek Turakulov for the problems. According to her, the hokim studied the project, took it over, and attempted to turn it into a revenue-generating system.
Ibragimova: "We had separate refrigerators, chambers for each product. We installed 27 or 28 chambers for those 30,000 children. Everything was separate. When asked: 'Why so many chambers?', I replied: 'If, God forbid, one egg infected with brucellosis gets into another product, poisoning could occur. You are planning to cook food for 30,000 children here.' Then, when told: 'Why are you installing a sorting belt, such a laboratory, you are making the project expensive,' I answered: 'Spoiled, rotten products won't enter here. This laboratory will automatically reject them.'"
Zilola Khodjieva: "For a developing country, child poisoning in a kindergarten is a shameful phenomenon. The main concerning problem is related to food supply. Today, many opportunities are opening up, but I think the main issue in this sector is weak quality control of food products or the level of control over transportation, delivery, and storage is worrying. Because we know that any products, whether for kindergartens or schools, must undergo very strict quality control. I think this happened due to violation of many rules or system sequences: storage periods, temperature, delivery conditions, storage time of ready-made food at room temperature. I believe the fault lies in the indifference of responsible persons managing quality control in this sector."
Source: kun.uz