3,378.30
Children in 160, 42,75, 51, 149 kindergartens of Sukhbaatar district have been getting milk with
their lunch since September 20 under The Cup of Milk to Children project
implemented under orders of the Mayor. The program will cover all kindergartens
and primary classes of secondary schools from next week. The milk, meeting
requirements of hygiene and quality, is being supplied by Suu LLC, Mon Suu Ltd
and Gum Ltd. The expense is to be covered from the daily allowance for a child’s
lunch, which is MNT400 in primary classes and MNT1,100 in kindergartens.
Quality control over such a large quantity of milk is not easy. Earlier, lunch
programs for primary classes did not follow food safety requirements so
children sometimes had stomach problems. A specialist of the Professional
Monitoring Agency, N.Narangerel, has said they have kept a strict watch on work
at the three supplier dairies since the beginning of September and were happy
with the arrangements.
There are doubts if the dairies have the capacity to supply the milk required
for 97,256 primary class pupils and more than 48,000 kindergarten kids. Gum Ltd
can daily process eight tons milk which they buy from Zuunkharaa. This can meet
the needs of 38 kindergartens and 32 schools. Mon Suu can supply about one ton of
milk, also from Zuunkharaa, to 50 kindergartens daily. Suu LLC has not said how
much it can provide to the program.
The program is to be financed from the Capital City budget but the final financial
costs are yet to be computed. Observers doubt if there is enough money to carry
on with the program and if so much fresh milk is actually available. The task
of processing so much milk every morning and to supply them in plastic cups and
to so many children may very well be beyond the capacity of the dairies.
