S'pore parents say school bento meals served at room temperature, daughter had cold hor fun

Bento meals served under the new Central Kitchen Meal Model (CKMM) in schools have recently come under the spotlight.

Feedback on their quality, price and portions has since surfaced on social media.

With one parent noting that "sad food eaten daily will lead to unhappy students", and that the interactions between stallholders and students can benefit the latter.

Delay in meals

One parent that Mothership spoke to currently has two daughters in Primary 3 and Primary 6 enrolled in CHIJ (Kellock) Primary School, one of the 13 schools under the CKMM.

The parent, Lim, said that according to her daughters' feedback, the meals have not been ideal.

The first few days of the system's implementation in particular saw teething issues — one of the girls found a dead insect in her vegetables on the first day of the bento meals being served.

However, Lim did acknowledge that "sometimes things like these can happen".

On the second day, the bento meals did not arrive in time, and students had to end up buying from the canteen stall. At the moment, only the noodle stall and snack/drinks stall remain.

In an internal circular seen by Mothership, the vendor, Gourmetz, apologised for the meals' delay, which they said was due to "unforeseen operational challenges".

A full refund was issued for the pre-ordered meals, and students affected were given complimentary meals from the two live stalls.

Gourmetz reassured them that they will be working closely with the school to prevent such delays from occurring again, and to ensure that meal services resume smoothly.

Food not hot

Although Lim said that teething issues are "unavoidable", another concern she raised was that the food was not hot, and often at room temperature.

In fact, one of her daughters had cold hor fun on Jan. 7.

While the two girls have no issues with the taste of the food, Lim said the portions of the meat and vegetables are not enough in comparison to the amount of rice given.

Other parents have shared similar feedback regarding the cold food as well.

The meals cost between S$2.20 and S$3 depending on portion size, which come in S, M and L.

There is a different menu daily, and students can choose between four to five types of meals.

Although dissatisfied with the CKMM, Lim said she will continue to opt in for the bento meals, as her girls "can't be eating noodles everyday".

"Honestly we are not very happy with this whole scheme. [We] felt that it took away the human touch of canteen vendors; it also doesn't teach kids on how to handle money."

Suggestions

Some social media users have since provided their own suggestions in response to the bento meals, with some positing that parents can cook and pack their own meals for their children to bring to school.

CNA cited another parent from CHIJ, Adrian Yeap, who encountered issues with depositing funds into the system.

“It's really a lot of issues with the app or the system, so it is causing a bit of a headache on my end"

Mothership has reached out to Gourmetz.

Teething issues

CNA also reported on other issues faced by schools with other vendors.

One parent at a school whose canteen is run by Wilmar Distribution reported missing items from orders and food distribution delays.

Another parent's child, who studies at Casuarina Primary, only received his meal near the end of recess, and said that "a lot of the kids were almost done eating but he was still waiting for his food".

The parent said the school extended recess to accommodate the delays.

Others also reported payment issues with the app.

In response to CNA's queries, Wilmar Distribution said they were responding to parents and working with schools to address the concerns.

They stressed that it is a new operating model and that they were closely monitoring and addressing early issues.

Chang Cheng Mee Wah, the other operator, told CNA that they had taken into account and addressed some feedback from parents. CNA also reached out to Gourmetz, but did not appear to have gotten a reply.

Top photo from CHIJ Kellock/FB