The families, on the closure of the Can Arabí school kitchen: "Chronicle of a death foretold"
FAPA Mallorca considers that the closure of the kitchen, ordered after sanitary irregularities were detected there, shows a lack of control on the part of the Administration
PalmaThe Federation of Student Families Associations (FAPA Mallorca) considers that the case of the central kitchen of Can Arabí is "the chronicle of a foretold closure" and calls for strengthening control over school canteens. The entity maintains that the detected irregularities not only highlight the bad practices of a specific company, but also a lack of supervision by the Administration.
The case dates back to June, when the Ministry of Health ordered the provisional closure of the central kitchen of Can Arabí after detecting several sanitary irregularities during an inspection. The decision forced an urgent reorganization of the dining service for dozens of educational centers in Mallorca at the gates of the end of the school year. In addition, the inspections had detected repeated non-compliance over the last few years, which opened the debate on the control exercised by the Administration over concessionary companies.
Criticism of the Administration
In this context, the coordinator of the Technical Office of the FAPA, Miquel Àngel Guerrero, assured that "it was seen coming for a long time" and stated that the problem "is not just a specific company, but the lack of effective oversight of the operation of school canteens". As he pointed out, "a company that served more than 40 canteens had bad practices and no remedy was found before".
Guerrero insisted that the entity's main concern is not who provides the service, but the guarantees offered by the system. "We are not concerned about which company manages the dining halls, but that the Administration takes the necessary measures so that they are safe spaces," he stated.
FAPA also took advantage of the appearance to claim the role of families in the management of school dining halls. According to Guerrero, during the processing of the new decree for dining halls, it was proposed to eliminate their participation, a decision that was finally rectified. "In the dining halls that are a reference today, there is collaboration between centers and families. We have managed to maintain this participation," he explained.