To address prominent problems cropping up while implementing the student nutrition improvement program, recently, the Office of the Leadership Group of the National Student Nutrition Program in Rural Compulsory Education (hereafter referred as National Student Nutrition Office) released a notice on better implementing the program. The Notice has spelled out detailed and clear requirements.

    Funding - expenses such as salaries for additional staff shall be included in local government budget.

    Poverty-stricken areas and schools will be particularly taken care of, and will get "special support" and various funding for kitchen construction programs. The Notice stressed that meal supply plans shall be tailor-made for out-of-the-way small primary schools and teaching facilities without kitchens, schools with relatively large concentrationof left-behind children, and schools in ethnic regions with special customs. The menu design should take into full consideration of the opinions of local students and parents.

    As to the program's funding, the Notice requires local government to cover the salary of kitchen staff hired to implement the nutrition improvement program and the delivery cost of food. Such expenses should not be paid with education funding, or with government's meal subsidy. Local governments should coordinate various nutrition programs and prevent "crowd out" effect.

    Meal supply - ensure students warm food and drinks

    The Notice states that"Pilot regions of the national student nutritionimprovement program should basically complete kitchen construction by the end of 2013. At that time, except for a small number of out-of-the-way teaching facilities and small village primary schools, lunch should be provided to students via school kitchens." According to the Notice, most schools are obligated to construct kitchens.

    In this vein, large schools should build kitchens upto standard, while smaller schools or teaching facilities can convert obsolete classrooms into kitchens or build new and small kitchens. In areas with convenient transportation system and a concentration of schools, centralized catering facilities can be set up accordingly to supply meals.

    The Notice has set up both quantitative and qualitative standards for kitchen construction. For instance, it stipulatesthat, "(Schools should) start from weak links, pay attention to building accessory facilities such as vegetable storage cellar and drinking water supply system, and purchase necessary equipment to heat food, preserve foodforsamplingand purify water." "Kitchen construction should follow strict procedures to ensure quality;" "School kitchens' design and construction plans should be approved by food and drug administration before kitchens are constructed so that they can be eligible for catering services permits after completion."

    To cope with cold winter, the Notice requires meals to be served fast, and food should be heated to ensure students can eat warm food and drinks.

    Kitchen management - set up meal supplier entry and exit system

    In recent years, food safety has frequently been the focus of public attention. The Notice stresses that "food safety should always be put at priority", and puts forth a series of specific measures. For instance, it requires "various local governments to periodically inspect food for safety season to make sure food purchase, storage, processing and supply processes meet relevant standard, and effectively enforce such procedures as physical examination (for kitchen administrators), food sterilization, food sample preservation and information disclosure, and make sure school management eat same meals as students"; "schools and meal suppliers should use modern technology, such as video cameras, to monitor such key processes as food processing and storage to ensure food safety", etc.

    In case of food safety incidents, the director (deputy director) of provincial level Student Nutrition Office should come to site immediately. Food safety accidents should be "detected, reported, controlled and addressed at the earliest possible moments, and be made public timely."

    In the meanwhile, the Notice also statesthat "a meal supplier entry and exit system should be established, and meal suppliers (including suppliers of eggs and milk) should be chosen through bidding. Batch food and raw materials should be purchased through bidding, in large quantity and from designated suppliers. The purchase process should be made public to prevent shady practices.

    Supervision - periodically monitor students' nutrition and health condition

    To learn about students' nutrition intake, growth and development status and health condition in a timely manner, the Notice requests that "student nutrition monitoring and assessment system should be established as soon as possible, and students should be periodically assessed on nutrition and health condition," so as to comprehensively gauge the effectiveness of the nutritionimprovement program.

    The Notice supports and encourages qualified third-party organizations to conduct independent evaluation on the nutrition improvement program, to make the evaluation more scientific, objective and unbiased.

    Moreover, the Notice also requires local governments to further verify the number of students to make sure that the beneficiary data are accurate.

    To address a common misconception that the nutrition improvement program is equivalent to "free lunch" paid by the government, the National Student Nutrition Office requests local governments to promote the government policy so as to gain public understanding and support.