The key facts

  • Leonid Ogul: the main thing is hot and healthy food; porridge would suit school cafeterias
  • Elena Yampolskaya earlier stated that pizza has no place in Russian schools
  • Vitaly Milonov believes the initiative needs to be worked through and children's and parents' opinions should be asked first

The debate over pizza in school cafeterias

In the Russian parliament, discussion continues over whether pizza belongs in schoolchildren's diets. Leonid Ogul, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection, in a comment to the outlet «Podyom» said that school cafeterias should serve hot and healthy food, but urged against

The deputies' positions differ

In Ogul's view, the main thing is that food at school should be healthy for the child; for school cafeterias, he said, porridge would suit Vitaly Milonov, in turn, believes that the idea of removing pizza from school cafeterias needs further work: first, in his opinion, the children and parents themselves should be asked how they feel about this initiative.

Context

The discussion of school meals in Russia has been going on for more than a month: back in September, school food was called atime bomb. For now, no decision has been made — the statements by deputies and the presidential adviser remain opinions and proposals rather than regulatory changes; no actual menu revision has been reported by sources.