Contents page 1 — keep the noodles, weigh-page 2 — outraged parents, the fault of the Caterer page 3 — “The bad word profit” On a page

About taste, but about the size of a Serving of pasta read. And that is exactly what seems to unsettle the Kitchen in the school cafeteria just so that your eyes shuttling nervously back and forth. In front of her, in the large containers on the counter, kilos of Pasta. It is evaporated. Earlier, the food was delivered from a large kitchen by Transporter. “Now show me how you measure the size of the servings,” says Dorothee Ortelt, for the second Time – in the tone friendly, but clear. Is Ortelt on the staff of the Berlin-based point of control for the quality of school Lunches, an authority, which is in Germany, so far, unique.

So the two women are just silent. Both in the white coat, both wear a hair net on the head. It is half past twelve in the morning in a Kreuzberg elementary school. The first children pour in to eat, as it is today in the dining plan was announced, the “mushroom pan with Spring onions and noodles”. But still, it is not clear how big the Portion has to be for now, which is served per table, for several children’s in the bowl. “Well,” says the employee of the canteen, “we fill the bowls always about to here”. She holds the flat of the Hand tightly under the rim of the white bowl. It is not enough Ortelt. No Weighing? No information about how many scoops in a bowl? She makes notes in your Block.

some blue rubber gloves on puts Ortelt, it squeaks. She grabs a Thermometer with a long needle and maintains the sensor in the warm food containers with the mushroom sauce. Of 65.8 degrees Celsius when the Thermometer digital. “Okay,” she says. “But it could be warmer.” Less than 65 degrees should not be allowed to have the food. Then Ortelt measures in the container with the noodles: 75 degrees. “Better.”

Ortelt can still be on different plates separately pasta and Sauce. It weighs with a digital scale, each exactly 150 grams in plastic bags, “the Berlin-Brandenburg state laboratory,” she says. There, the salt content of the food will be examined. Finally, each person had a different sensors: Some a meal is too salty, while others view it as seasoning. The laboratory sample is intended to provide an objective result.

every Day raw vegetables, ten per cent Bio

A fine palate alone is not enough to allow a clear judgment on the quality of the food. There are objective criteria is, a lot of it. In 2014, Berlin has advertised, therefore, the contracts for the lunch of the 360 public elementary schools. Who wanted to get one of around 20 Caterers a Supplement, had to commit to the Standards of the German nutrition society (DGE).

And have it in. Daily fresh raw vegetables, at least ten percent Organic content, no flavor, no meat, no genetically modified foods, artificial dyes and flavors. The dining plan must be within one month, a high variance is: a lot of whole grains, less fat, not more than eight times the meat and four fish. It fruits will give exact specifications for the amounts of dairy products, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. The DGE-Standards should help children in German schools will be offered a healthy and tasty food. The defaults are but except in Berlin, Bremen and Saarland, for the provider binding, compliance is checked in addition so far only in the capital.

in This case, parents associations, and the consumer organization food watch, that the Standards should be applicable throughout the country. Most of the state governments but to the school policy responsible, for apparently no reason. It was “a scandal,” complained foodwatch-managing Director, Martin Rücker, that there are these criteria for a good ten years, but “most schools” would be ignored. After all, less than half of the children eat so far in Germany, lunch in school, because many parents keep the offer for inferior. But how controls can be organized, and the food improve?