Families, on the closure of the Can Arabí school kitchen: "Chronicle of a death foretold"

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 precautionary closure of Can Arabí's central kitchen after detecting several sanitary irregularities during an inspection. The decision forced the urgent reorganization of the dining service for dozens of educational centers in Mallorca just before the end of the school year. Furthermore, inspections had detected repeated breaches in recent 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 FAPA Technical Office, Miquel Àngel Guerrero, has stated that "it was expected for a long time" and affirmed that the problem "is not just a specific company, but the lack of effective oversight over the operation of school canteens". As he pointed out, "a company that served more than forty canteens was engaging in bad practices and no remedy was found sooner".

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 puts in place the necessary measures for them to be safe spaces," he stated.

The 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 dining hall decree, it was proposed to eliminate this 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.