On November 8th, 2017, Vinh Phuc Education and Training Department co-operated with Ajinomoto Vietnam to hold a conference on deploying “Nutrition -balanced Menu Development Software” for 176 local primary boarding-schools.

Leaders of Ajinomoto Vietnam and Vinh Phuc Education and Training Department, leaders and executives of District’s Education and Training Department, School Management Boards and the staff in charge of boarding management along with representatives of Parents Association of 176 primary boarding-schools in the province attended the conference.

The software belongs to the School Meal Project initiated by Ajinomoto Vietnam and deployed in cooperation with the National Institute of Nutrition – Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Training in order to provide and develop nutrition-balanced, diverse, delicious menus and support the boarding meal management. The software can be accessed without fee on the website of the project: www.buaanhocduong.com.vn.  Each primary boarding-school can register an account for full access to all functions of the software. 

On January 16th, 2017, the Ministry of Education and Training issued the Decision No. 196/QĐ-BGDĐT on approving the Nutrition -balanced Menu Development Software. According to the Decision, the software will be applied to primary boarding-schools nationwide to ensure nutrition-balanced menus of school meals; Education and Training Departments of provinces and cities are responsible for providing boarding-schools with guidance in deploying the software suitably for each local area and family as well. On February 16th, 2017, the Ministry of Education and Training also issued a Document No. 576/BGDĐT-CTHSSV to instruct and plan for the deployment of the Nutrition -balanced Menu Development Software in Education and Training Departments across the country.

Since the approval, the project has achieved basic success with 25 provinces and cities nationwide using the software in preparing menus for primary boarding-schools’ pupils.

The menus of the Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software was carefully developed according to formulas, examined, analyzed,  experimented and adjusted in over a year, then was approved by the Appraisal Council of the National Nutrition Institute – the Ministry of Health and the Evaluation Council of the Ministry of Education and Training. The software offers boarding-schools a diverse menu bank of 120 available menus with 360 different dishes for lunch which is nutrition-balanced based on needs of pupils at primary school, diverse, delicious and divided into 3 groups in accordance with 3 areas of Vietnam: the North, Central and the South. The software has many outstanding features that help schools create new menus by combining available dishes in the menu bank or by using local materials, check the nutrition property of menus that schools are using, help schools calculate and manage the expenses of pupils’ meals.

The School Meal Project was initiated by Ajinomoto Vietnam and has been deployed in combination with the Ministry of Education and Training, the National Nutrition Institute – the Ministry of Health since 2012. Its goal is to “contribute to the education, environment and educating the future generation of the country through nutrition and health improving activities, improving primary pupils’ stature and intelligence”.

The School Meal project includes the following main contents:

Developing a diverse, delicious and nutrition-balanced menu set

• Use common and easy-accessed materials in local areas

• Simple processing techniques

• Good smell, taste and look

Providing illustrations and the poster “3 minutes to change awareness”

• Help pupils to realize the nutritional values and benefits of food for health.

• Help pupils like foods, hence leading a healthy eating habit.

Building the model boarding-kitchen at Trung Trac primary School (Ho Chi Minh City) for schools to visit, learn and apply.  

• One-way kitchen to ensure food hygiene and safety for pupils 

• Modern facilities to reduce supporting staff’s’ work

• Modern design to save time and reduce labors

Develop Nutrition-balanced Menu Development Software