The Auditor General of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) paid a visit to the former Directorate General of Projects and Services for Schools (DGPySE) with the aim of investigating the checks made on companies that supply food to schools run by the City Government. It found that 46% of the examined bacteriological protocols "did not present the analysis that certifies the absence of Escherichia coli OH157: NM-producing bacteria hemolytic-uremic syndrome for meat lots."

The report, which was approved this year on 2009 data states that in 5 of the 23 protocols "they lack the signature of the person responsible." Also, "deli items delivered by the company that merged eight successful tenders are not certified for bacteriological analysis, the company for cheese, is missing the presentation of five companies."

Regarding the bromatológicos controls, the watchdog noted that they are "not made in a timely manner" and cites as an example that "dealers have not provided 45% of the monthly reports that are bound to occur during the year," to the purposes of ensuring that the food is safe to eat.

The audit also noted that "no records were credited for monthly disinfestations in 50% of the production units and 65% of the winning companies", allowing a low level in finding pest control by the Directors.

We also verified a high percentage of menu failure "of the 16 awarded companies preparing snacks, 15 do not meet the contract standards, 93.75%. Neither do the 92.85% of the firms that produce hot meals "(13 of 14 cases).

Regarding altering menus, the AGCBA noted that not only "do they not have the express permission of the DGPySE" to do this, but "it is up to the audited body to take appropriate measures to implement the penalties" to processing plants that do not respect the dishes.

When auditors analyzed the ratings found here there is also a "lack of control" by the audited Address: of the 29 processing plants, "25% have pending permits or actually have them; of the productive units 3 out of 4 are in the same situation." However, despite Article 76 of the records where a specification indicates that those who have their rating on handling process cannot allocate more than 1000 units of daily rations, but three units do.

In the productive entity Cooperativa Ltda Evencoop, as was noted by the AGCBA, there was a "lack of natural gas installation, causing the cooking equipment (ovens) needed to comply with the current plan (snacks) are not used." Likewise, they also observed "lack of hot water, which prevents proper sanitation". However, the company "was contracted for the provision of 3,417 daily snacks in 2009 and is one of the three production units that have a pending permit.

Penalties

According to the survey the auditors performed there are still "pending 75% of cases initiated from faults liable to penalties." Of the eight cases "only in two cases sentencing has been resultant, other actions are pending the promulgation of the administrative act or the imposition of fines."

Recommendation 

The City Audit concludes its report by noting that "the audits performed by the audited agency are inadequate" and calls for "greater Government control of the services provided by third parties."