Improving Knowledge, Technology and Food Safety in School Catering System in Hungary

Providing the population by safe and good quality food is one of the most important objectives of every country. Healthy childhood nutrition and diet will basically determine the health state of present children in their adult age, thus it can be stated, that it will influence the future economic and social performance of the society. As children spend most of their time in educational institutions, the school catering programmes have become in the focus of public attention all over the world. This paper introduces the background information about the school catering in Hungary, based upon the results of an overall survey. The effects of catering on human health are determined not only by the raw materials of the food, but also by the circumstances of processing, the used technology, and the practical side of this process. For the appropriate and efficient operation of school catering units (school kitchens), the first step is to make a complex assessment of their state and to recognize the strengths and the possible weaknesses of these institutions. In our survey we examined 22 school kitchens in Hungary. We assessed the physical and technological level, and also the appropriateness of the different technological processes conducted by the employees of the school kitchens. The examined school kitchens showed significant differences both in technological and food safety aspects. The average of the results was 69%; 11 kitchens reached more than 70% (acceptable result) in the course of our assessment, 8 kitchens reached a medium-level result between 60 and 70%, while the result of 3 kitchens was unacceptable (below 50%). The results of our researches showed that the food safety level of the different kitchen units is mostly determined by the level of food processing activities. The technical-technological level of the school kitchens has not influenced significantly the food safety level of the kitchens. According to the results of our survey, improving the knowledge and the attitudes of the employees in the school kitchens is more important than the technical-technological conditions. As human resource is one of the most flexible tools for increasing the competitiveness of organizations, it is very important to find the appropriate tools for improving the knowledge (and, of course the consciousness and the positive attitudes) of differently educated people.