Chef Janaína Rueda, who personally trained school cooks and oriented the adoption of in natura ingredients and local recipes in the luncheon, reported changes

Rafaela Polo

Thirteen days ago, chef Janaína Rueda wrote an article for national newspaper Folha de S.Paulo commenting on changes in the project “Cooks for Education”, which she helped create in 2016 to improve quality in school meals in the São Paulo State. In the text, also sent to Instituto Brasil a Gosto, the chef also denounced changes in the menu and cuts in school cooks’ training – which made her decide to quit the project.

Today (March, 11th), Folha de S.Paulo returned to the subject in its main headline: “In SP, school lunch once again prioritizes processed food”. In a comparison made by the newspaper, the current menu is rated beside the one presented in February, 2018: fresh food was replaced by processed food – which  contain unhealthy ingredients and many times low nutritive value, a lot of preservatives and stabilizers, inadequate to children and teenage development.

On Instagram, Janaína Rueda posted a screenshot of the newspaper’s cover with the following caption: “Today is one of the saddest days ever for me. I can only think about the (Brazilian)TV short-series “Dark Days” (“Os Dias Eram Assim”, in Portuguese).

Questioned by Instituto Brasil a Gosto from February, 28th, the Education Secretariat did not give a position about the case.