Vantaa fish finger episode causes lively debate

City of Vantaa emphasises that school children are adequately fed

print this

An episode that started from the size of one pupil’s food portion at a school lunch in the southern city of Vantaa has raised a lively debate both in Vantaa and on the web pages of the media.
      For example on Helsingin Sanomat's HS.fi online discussion forums site nearly 700 comments relating to the subject had been left by Wednesday evening.
      According to the afternoon tabloid Ilta-Sanomat, the sequence of events started last Thursday in the dining hall queue of the Vantaankoski School, where a 13-year-old boy took more food on his plate than was allowable.
      According to the paper, the situation between the student and the staff became so overheated that help from the police was needed to calm things down.
     
Vantaa’s comprehensive education director Ilkka Kalo emphasises that “the police are not called in just because a pupil takes four fish fingers instead of the recommended three”.
      Kalo explains that schools will contact a City of Vantaa security specialist when encountering safety-related situations where outside help might be of use.
      “The specialist will give recommendations of what to do next.”
      According to Kalo, the security specialist is contacted, for example, in crimes against property as well as in situations where there is violence or threats of violence.
      Because of professional discretion Kalo is unable to comment on the Vantaankoski incident.
     
The adequacy of the provided school lunches was a common topic of many of the discussion posts.
      The City of Vantaa Section of Education, Culture, and Recreation gave an assurance on Wednesday that pupils have the possibility for second helpings after they have received a balanced first serving of full weight.
     
According to the city, the day the incident took place the kitchen staff paid special attention to the instructed portion size, because there was a larger than average number of student groups eating in that shift.
      Helsingin Sanomat reported in the autumn that this year the City of Vantaa would invest four per cent more funds in school meals compared with last year.
      Comprehensive education director Kalo explains that the increase has already come into effect but says also that he does not have information of its concrete effects at this point.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish school meals are not always as healthy as they should be (29.11.2005)
  International visitors learn about school lunches in Joensuu (15.9.2005)
  Best topic of the summer: Finnish food (23.8.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat