Education Minister Milagros Ortiz Bosch met yesterday with subordinates in charge of the school breakfast program, as well as suppliers, Agriculture Ministry officials, school district officers, and local government representatives. The group had been assembled to work out some of the problems that have been reported in the program that is supposed to provide a nutritional supplement to hundreds of thousands of public school students. Following the meeting, Ortiz Bosch announced that the distribution logistics had been worked out and that the Industrial Technology Institute (INDOTEC) would provide the quality control inspection. Ortiz Bosch stated that the breakfast program would be extended to the Provinces of La Vega, Espaillat, Salcedo, and Azua and would include locally produced components. Food processors were represented at the meeting, which took place in the National Palace. These included producers of eggs, tubers, meat, milk, bread, casaba and fruit. The Minister again dismissed recently published criticisms of the school breakfast as motivated by ?special interests.? ?There are people who are disquieted by President Mejia?s desire to use locally produced, rather than imported, products,? she said, ?and there?s also concern on the part of the intermediaries that third parties will be eliminated.?
