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FAST
SINGAPORE: “Uncle, your vegetables every day are carrots.”
“Uncle, your rice is too hard.”
“Uncle, your meat is too small — we can’t see the meat.”
These are some of the complaints Wilmar Distribution’s institutional catering manager, Michael Tan, has heard from pupils in schools his company serves under the Central Kitchen Meal Model.
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Since its introduction in January, the model — aimed at schools facing a shortage of canteen vendors — has replaced on-site cooking with meals that are pre-ordered, prepared off-site and delivered to school.
On paper, the meals tick all the boxes. They follow the Healthy Meals in Schools guidelines (wholegrains, protein, vegetables and fruits) provided by the Health Promotion Board (HPB), with products that meet Healthier Choice standards.
Pupils at Kranji Primary School collecting their bentos.
Think chicken rice with skinless, lean meat; pizza made with wholemeal flour; mee goreng with wholegrain noodles. And absolutely no deep-fried food.
But in the canteen, where these meals meet their young critics, healthier does not always land.
CNA’s Talking Point visited three of the 13 schools under the model — Kranji Primary, CHIJ Kellock Primary and Northoaks Primary — to see how pupils are taking to the change.
On average, about half the bentos were seen being thrown away. Vegetables, in particular, were often left untouched. One student at Northoaks Primary called them “disgusting” and “not recommended”.
So, what is the point if a healthy meal ends up in the bin instead of a child’s stomach? Talking Point investigates why some meals are missing the mark with pupils and what it will take to serve them better.
WATCH: School bentos in Singapore — Healthy, but do kids like them? (23:23)
After more than 30 years in the culinary industry, Liang Koon Chuen said nothing has quite prepared him for the stress of cooking for students, especially under the health guidelines.
“We can’t deep-fry (food). It can’t be too oily. It can’t be too sweet. And it must be … approved by the dietitian,” he said. “It’s an additional challenge.”
Liang is the group executive chef at Chang Cheng Holdings, one of three main caterers supplying schools under the new model. The company prepares bento meals for five schools across Singapore, feeding about 4,000 pupils daily.
But what tastes good in the kitchen does not always stay that way by the time it reaches pupils.
Fresh from the pot, Chang Cheng’s porridge and mushroom macaroni were flavourful, said programme host Diana Ser. At the schools, however, the bentos she tried — including a baked chicken tikka, a pizza set and steamed chicken rice — were bland.
Talking Point host Diana Ser with Chang Cheng Holdings group executive chef Liang Koon Chuen in the company’s central kitchen.
Chang Cheng is trying to tackle such complaints about blandness, having received “a lot of feedback” on this in the past two months, said chief operating officer Haw Kian Siong.
“That’s why we put in a lot of effort to do R&D (research and development) for the food’s taste.”
His chefs use ingredients such as chicken bones, sesame oil and spices to enhance flavour naturally while staying within the guidelines.
But there is no quick fix. At Yusof Ishak Secondary School, which first piloted the model in 2022, feedback still takes time to translate into changes.
“(With) the individual stallholder system, the feedback to the stallholder is quite direct,” said the school’s principal, Chen Ziyang. “If you go up to the auntie and say, ‘Add more chilli, add less oil’, the next day it’ll be done.”
Yusof Ishak Secondary School principal Chen Ziyang has a bento box for a meal five days a week.
With a central kitchen, the process is more complex. Recipes must be reviewed and adjusted; and a nutritionist must approve every component, from carbohydrates to oil to fat, before a dish can be re-introduced.
“(That process) does take about one term, (which) is about 10 weeks,” Chen said.
Even if caterers want to do more, cost is another constraint. A full meal costs S$2.70 — when it comes in “the smallest portion” — he cited, “or at most S$3.50”.
“It’s not really a lot,” he said, highlighting that caterers are trying to source cost-effective healthy ingredients at scale.
Stallholders, meanwhile, have also had to make trade-offs. For some of them, the Healthy Meals in Schools Programme has come at a cost to their bottom line.
Canteen vendor Koh Seng Leong, who sells Chinese mixed rice, starts his day with grocery shopping at NTUC FairPrice — at around 4am to 5am, when fresh vegetables hit the shelves.
“Because it’s good for the children. I don’t want to get stale vegetables and cook (them for) … the students and make a huge profit,” he said. “They’re like my children.”
But his margins are tight. He brings in about S$1,800 a month but spends about S$2,000 on ingredients, plus S$80 on utilities and S$5 on rent at First Toa Payoh Primary School.
“Yes, I’m losing money,” he said. “In a good month I make about S$100.”
It was not always this way. He has seen profits fall by about 35 per cent compared with 30 years ago, when items such as chicken nuggets and French fries were both popular and permitted.
Canteen vendor Koh Seng Leong.
The demand has not gone away. “We also receive a lot of feedback from the kids. They like nuggets (and) all deep-fried items,” affirmed Haw.
This has raised questions about whether the rules could be loosened. Haw suggested allowing deep-fried items once a week or more leeway in using ingredients such as regular coconut milk, which could help improve taste and acceptance.
But the HPB is cautious about easing restrictions too readily. Premila Hirubalan, the acting director of its Youth Preventive Health Service, described such a move as a “double-edged sword”.
“Each child is different. Some children may not be eating any fried food even at home or in the community — hard to believe but true,” she said.
“We should meet the best standards we can because we know we can’t control everything when the child is out of school.”
Dr Premila Hirubalan was a general practitioner prior to joining the Health Promotion Board.
The HPB’s thinking is that if children grow accustomed to less salty and less sweet food and learn to enjoy the natural taste of vegetables and fruit, these eating habits may carry over into adulthood.
While Hirubalan has not tried the bentos personally, her team has found that the meals meet the nutritional guidelines.
And while she has not heard about the taste from her team, she said they would continue working with the caterers to enhance this aspect for pupils.
As for stallholders, Ser asked the Ministry of Education (MOE) if it could help with the cost burden now that ingredients are more expensive.
Currently, to “help make the stallholders’ business viable”, the price guidelines for them are reviewed on an annual basis, said MOE divisional director of infrastructure and facility services Ang Zhongren.
“Of course, this has to be traded off against the affordability angle (for) parents.”
One of the suggestions the ministry has heard is that stallholders’ ingredients should be subsidised.
On this, Ang said: “We’re happy to consider all options. But it’s a complex question, and we do need quite a deep study into it before we can go down that route.”
Watch this episode of Talking Point here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Thursday at 9.30pm.
Tasty for some children? On a scale of one to five, these pupils at Northoaks Primary School rated the bentos four or five on camera.
Source: CNA/fl(dp)
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FAST
SINGAPORE: “Uncle, your vegetables every day are carrots.”
“Uncle, your rice is too hard.”
“Uncle, your meat is too small — we can’t see the meat.”
These are some of the complaints Wilmar Distribution’s institutional catering manager, Michael Tan, has heard from pupils in schools his company serves under the Central Kitchen Meal Model.
CNA Games
Show More Show Less
Since its introduction in January, the model — aimed at schools facing a shortage of canteen vendors — has replaced on-site cooking with meals that are pre-ordered, prepared off-site and delivered to school.
On paper, the meals tick all the boxes. They follow the Healthy Meals in Schools guidelines (wholegrains, protein, vegetables and fruits) provided by the Health Promotion Board (HPB), with products that meet Healthier Choice standards.
Pupils at Kranji Primary School collecting their bentos.
Think chicken rice with skinless, lean meat; pizza made with wholemeal flour; mee goreng with wholegrain noodles. And absolutely no deep-fried food.
But in the canteen, where these meals meet their young critics, healthier does not always land.
CNA’s Talking Point visited three of the 13 schools under the model — Kranji Primary, CHIJ Kellock Primary and Northoaks Primary — to see how pupils are taking to the change.
On average, about half the bentos were seen being thrown away. Vegetables, in particular, were often left untouched. One student at Northoaks Primary called them “disgusting” and “not recommended”.
So, what is the point if a healthy meal ends up in the bin instead of a child’s stomach? Talking Point investigates why some meals are missing the mark with pupils and what it will take to serve them better.
WATCH: School bentos in Singapore — Healthy, but do kids like them? (23:23)
A LOSS OF FLAVOUR
After more than 30 years in the culinary industry, Liang Koon Chuen said nothing has quite prepared him for the stress of cooking for students, especially under the health guidelines.
“We can’t deep-fry (food). It can’t be too oily. It can’t be too sweet. And it must be … approved by the dietitian,” he said. “It’s an additional challenge.”
Liang is the group executive chef at Chang Cheng Holdings, one of three main caterers supplying schools under the new model. The company prepares bento meals for five schools across Singapore, feeding about 4,000 pupils daily.
But what tastes good in the kitchen does not always stay that way by the time it reaches pupils.
Fresh from the pot, Chang Cheng’s porridge and mushroom macaroni were flavourful, said programme host Diana Ser. At the schools, however, the bentos she tried — including a baked chicken tikka, a pizza set and steamed chicken rice — were bland.
Talking Point host Diana Ser with Chang Cheng Holdings group executive chef Liang Koon Chuen in the company’s central kitchen.
Chang Cheng is trying to tackle such complaints about blandness, having received “a lot of feedback” on this in the past two months, said chief operating officer Haw Kian Siong.
“That’s why we put in a lot of effort to do R&D (research and development) for the food’s taste.”
His chefs use ingredients such as chicken bones, sesame oil and spices to enhance flavour naturally while staying within the guidelines.
But there is no quick fix. At Yusof Ishak Secondary School, which first piloted the model in 2022, feedback still takes time to translate into changes.
“(With) the individual stallholder system, the feedback to the stallholder is quite direct,” said the school’s principal, Chen Ziyang. “If you go up to the auntie and say, ‘Add more chilli, add less oil’, the next day it’ll be done.”
Yusof Ishak Secondary School principal Chen Ziyang has a bento box for a meal five days a week.
With a central kitchen, the process is more complex. Recipes must be reviewed and adjusted; and a nutritionist must approve every component, from carbohydrates to oil to fat, before a dish can be re-introduced.
“(That process) does take about one term, (which) is about 10 weeks,” Chen said.
Even if caterers want to do more, cost is another constraint. A full meal costs S$2.70 — when it comes in “the smallest portion” — he cited, “or at most S$3.50”.
“It’s not really a lot,” he said, highlighting that caterers are trying to source cost-effective healthy ingredients at scale.
NO ROOM FOR CHICKEN NUGGETS?
Stallholders, meanwhile, have also had to make trade-offs. For some of them, the Healthy Meals in Schools Programme has come at a cost to their bottom line.
Canteen vendor Koh Seng Leong, who sells Chinese mixed rice, starts his day with grocery shopping at NTUC FairPrice — at around 4am to 5am, when fresh vegetables hit the shelves.
“Because it’s good for the children. I don’t want to get stale vegetables and cook (them for) … the students and make a huge profit,” he said. “They’re like my children.”
But his margins are tight. He brings in about S$1,800 a month but spends about S$2,000 on ingredients, plus S$80 on utilities and S$5 on rent at First Toa Payoh Primary School.
“Yes, I’m losing money,” he said. “In a good month I make about S$100.”
It was not always this way. He has seen profits fall by about 35 per cent compared with 30 years ago, when items such as chicken nuggets and French fries were both popular and permitted.
Canteen vendor Koh Seng Leong.
The demand has not gone away. “We also receive a lot of feedback from the kids. They like nuggets (and) all deep-fried items,” affirmed Haw.
This has raised questions about whether the rules could be loosened. Haw suggested allowing deep-fried items once a week or more leeway in using ingredients such as regular coconut milk, which could help improve taste and acceptance.
But the HPB is cautious about easing restrictions too readily. Premila Hirubalan, the acting director of its Youth Preventive Health Service, described such a move as a “double-edged sword”.
“Each child is different. Some children may not be eating any fried food even at home or in the community — hard to believe but true,” she said.
“We should meet the best standards we can because we know we can’t control everything when the child is out of school.”
Dr Premila Hirubalan was a general practitioner prior to joining the Health Promotion Board.
The HPB’s thinking is that if children grow accustomed to less salty and less sweet food and learn to enjoy the natural taste of vegetables and fruit, these eating habits may carry over into adulthood.
While Hirubalan has not tried the bentos personally, her team has found that the meals meet the nutritional guidelines.
And while she has not heard about the taste from her team, she said they would continue working with the caterers to enhance this aspect for pupils.
As for stallholders, Ser asked the Ministry of Education (MOE) if it could help with the cost burden now that ingredients are more expensive.
Currently, to “help make the stallholders’ business viable”, the price guidelines for them are reviewed on an annual basis, said MOE divisional director of infrastructure and facility services Ang Zhongren.
“Of course, this has to be traded off against the affordability angle (for) parents.”
One of the suggestions the ministry has heard is that stallholders’ ingredients should be subsidised.
On this, Ang said: “We’re happy to consider all options. But it’s a complex question, and we do need quite a deep study into it before we can go down that route.”
Watch this episode of Talking Point here. The programme airs on Channel 5 every Thursday at 9.30pm.
Tasty for some children? On a scale of one to five, these pupils at Northoaks Primary School rated the bentos four or five on camera.
You may wish to also read:
Source: CNA/fl(dp)
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