During 2014 the General Audit of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) detected that the companies that provide the service of feeding to the public schools of the City of Buenos Aires repeated 393 times 47 noncompliance acts with the contracting document signed.

The data comes from the analysis of the dining service contracted by the Directorate General of Services to Schools. From 2014 to the end of the 2016 cycle, the concession was awarded to 21 concessionaires for a total of $ 2,150 million.

In case of non-compliance, the bidding documents provide for the application of penalties to the successful bidder, even if the contract is finalized. In their report, the auditors emphasized that "they could not verify what was declared by each plant" since the information was loaded in the Electronic Document Management System (SADE, for its acronym in Spanish) to which they do not have access.

For this reason, the General Directorate of Purchases and Contracts was asked to know whether, in 2014, penalties were imposed and the response was that "there were 126 cases initiated that year, totaling 47 defaults" that were mentioned at the beginning of the note, but The management did not provide the AGCBA with such documentation. All of the concession companies and production units registered had at least, one non-compliance.

In this regard, there was also an "unjustified delay" in the processing of penalties since there were cases in which the file had no movements for 12 months.

In the supply, companies had to declare, among other things, the technical characteristics of the cold room, the plant facilities and the vehicle for the transfer. Given the impossibility of accessing SADE, the information was provided on a CD but "was incomplete and was not uniform", an attitude considered by the Buenos Aires Audit as "a way to avoid control."

Going on to the particular, the team of the City Audit explained that during the elaboration of the sandwiches of the refreshment two plants "they put like date of elaboration the day of the distribution, that is to say, one day later". This practice, according to the report, "is inadequate and is risky for the consumer and violates what is stated in the statement that" the durability of the sandwich is 24 hours. "

The report also reveals that "in 30.4% of cases, the concessionaires do not have bacteriological certificates of cheeses and cold cuts made by the processing company".

In "21.7% of the cases the lack of a registry of cleaning and disinfection of the different work areas was observed", while the non-use of gloves and / or chinstraps when handling ready-to-eat foods had an incidence of 30%."

Five concession companies, says the report approved in 2016, had the cold stores, where there was food in conservation, "at inappropriate temperatures." In all the companies that sent ready-to-eat preparations, "a periodic bacteriological examination, essential to confirm hygiene" was lacking, and 39% were "totally or partially lacking in personal hygiene."

Among other observations, it is also noted that "in 60% of cases there was no sample of the preparation of the day for eventual quality controls."

Authorization Permits

Finally, the AGCBA report details the situation of some plants. In the case of Succession of Rubén Martín S.A., its permit could not be verified. Alimentos Integrados S.A. was enabled as a food house, "rotiseria", while the Evencoop Cooperative was authorized as "retail food products generally without breadmaking."

On the latter, the auditors added that it worked without the authorization of the General Directorate of School Services, which had suspended the service for lack of guarantee in the safety of the products.