Can Arabí tries to sneak in a front company to school canteens after being excluded from them
It was the operator that managed the most centers until Health closed its central kitchen due to deficiencies in the preparation, handling and transport of food
PalmaCan Arabí tried to return to the Balearic Islands' public school canteens this school year, only three months after Health authorities had provisionally closed its central kitchen due to various health violations. As ARA Balears has learned, the company presented itself in the new contracting procedures under a different name and with a responsible declaration in which it claimed to meet the conditions required by the Department of Education to manage the canteens. An anonymous call alerted the department that behind this new bid was Can Arabí. Education verified the link and excluded it from the procedure.
The maneuver was carried out after a tumultuous end of the school year for the company, which until then was one of the main operators of school canteens in the Balearic Islands. Can Arabí managed 44 centers and nearly 2,000 daily menus from 33 schools were affected when, only nine days before the end of the school year, the Health Department ordered the precautionary closure of the central kitchen. The Education Department was forced to urgently reorganize the service and distribute the affected canteens among other companies.
The closure was not the result of a single problem. The health inspection had detected non-compliance related to the preparation, handling, and transport of food, and the company already had a history of inspections and files. Among the deficiencies detected over the years were issues related to hygiene, temperature control, cleaning, staff training, and the prevention of cross-contamination. The technicians had also focused on the capacity of the kitchen, which they considered insufficient to handle the volume of menus it was preparing.
The case generated complaints in some centers regarding aspects of the service's operation. In Llubí, the canteen committee of the AFA of the CEIP Duran Estrany school prepared a report pointing out several contractual commitments that, according to the document, had not been verified, including the use of local and organic products and the implementation of a canteen management application. The center ended up terminating the contract with Can Arabí before it expired.
Outside the new contracts
After the kitchen closure, Education decided that Can Arabí would not continue managing public canteens this school year. At the beginning of September, the Ministry confirmed exclusively to ARA Balears that the company had been left out of the new contracts and that the services had been awarded to other operators. “Health suspended Can Arabí as an operator at the time; this allowed Education to restrict all contracts,” explained sources from the department.
This is how the story of Can Arabí in school dining halls ends, for the moment: the company that, until just a few months ago, managed 44 centers and that, according to sources familiar with its internal operations, gave the impression that, no matter what it did, the Department of Education would end up allowing it. That was not the case. After the closure of its central kitchen and being left out of the new contracts, its latest attempt to return, this time under a different name, has clashed head-on with the Department of Education. Another name on paper, but the same offending company behind it. And an idea that is gaining more weight among the educational community: school dining halls must be safe spaces.