23-05-2025
News in Easy English: The Osaka mayor says sorry about dirty school lunch dishes
OSAKA -- The mayor of Osaka said sorry on May 20 about many problems with food at a city elementary school. Since April, there have been problems like dirty bowls and hair on the food.
Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama said to the Osaka city government, "I am very sorry. This is a serious problem."
These food problems started at an Osaka elementary school in April, when a different lunch company began making the food.
On April 3, the school principal and teachers tasted the food. They told the city's education board, "The rice was not cooked well. The pork smelled too oily. Teachers could not finish it." Soon, the lunch company got advice from the education board on how to cook rice.
On April 11, the school found bowls were not cleaned well. Some bowls still had rice and dirty spots. Because of this, the principal stopped side dishes that day. Students ate only milk and bread for lunch. Later in April, the education board went to check the lunch company's kitchen.
Still, problems continued. People found hair in rice, a kitchen worker cooking food with broken gloves, and a worker touching trash and then touching pizza. Someone also found hair in Chinese soup.
On May 16, parents and teachers from the school had a meeting. Parents asked if children could bring their own lunches from home and if cameras could check the lunch company's kitchen. From May 19, the principal said children could bring lunch from home if they wanted. On May 19, 35 students brought lunches from home. On May 20, 57 students did so.
Some people from the city government want to end the contract with this lunch company. But the city's education head, Katsuya Tada, said, "No students have become sick so far. We must think carefully first."
Mayor Yokoyama said, "If problems continue, we may have to stop using this lunch company. But we must also carefully follow rules and laws."
(Japanese original by Shunsuke Takara, Osaka City News Department)
Vocabulary
- mayor: the leader of a town or city.
- principal: the person in charge of a school.
- education board: a group that helps make rules for schools.
- elementary school: school for young children.
- contract: a written promise between people or groups to do something.
- kitchen worker: a person whose job is cooking or cleaning in a kitchen.
- company: a group that provides or sells things or services, like school lunches.
- government: a group of people who make rules and lead a city or country.
