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NewsWhore
06-12-2008, 07:30 PM
The Dominican Pediatrics Society (SDP) is calling for the Ministry of Education to discontinue the purchase of a breakfast drink that a TV investigative journalist Nuria Piera determined fails to meet its own established minimum standards of nutrition. Dr. Tharsis Hernandez, president of the SDP said that what the Ministry is serving is "whey" or "water with sugar."
Recently, investigative TV journalist Nuria Piera disclosed the contents of the milk for schools produced by Ladom, which has 40% of the contracts to serve the breakfasts nationwide. The drink sourced by another supplier was found to be almost within the established contents parameters. Dr. Hernandez criticized the fact that this has been going on for quite a long time.
Hernandez called for an investigation by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Health. Hernandez proposed that a quality control team should permanently monitor the rations. As reported in Diario Libre, Minister Alejandrina German defended the quality of the rations. She said that they are tested periodically by the Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology and Industry (IBII) that guarantees their quality. She said the suspension of the program is not necessary, because the school year has just ended.
Cattle farmer Cesar Taveras of San Francisco de Macoris, said on the Nuria y Huchi radio talk show on CDN, that this was fraud to the tune of RD$3 billion by the Dominican government, and merited the intervention of state corruption prosecution office.
The president of the Dominican Association of Public School Teachers (ADP), Maria Teresa Cabrera said it is a crime to serve whey in the school breakfast instead of milk. She said she would be meeting with the Ministry of Education this week to discuss the matter.
On her Channel 9 Saturday TV program, Piera revealed that a daughter of Education Minister Alejandrina German works in the administration department of Ladom.
The president of the National Cattle Ranchers Association, Eric Rivero said that local milk producers were aware of the situation. "The sector has been denouncing the violation of Laws 27-01 and 180-01 for a long time and demanding that the Ministry of Education fulfill agreements that date back four years, without any answer," said Rivero. He also criticized the fact that the contents listed on the packaging does not necessarily correspond with the actual contents. As reported in Listin Diario, he said they had held dozens of meetings and had been insulted by the Department of Student Welfare after showing them the results of the analysis of the product being served to public school children. "We haven't achieved anything", he said.

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