News

11 May 2023

Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva supported the “Revolution in Nutrition” campaign of the “Za Hranata” Foundation, organised for the sixth time with the aim of introducing children to the health benefits of proper and balanced nutrition.

This year, the focus of the initiative is on children with food allergies and intolerances, as well as on problems their parents and teachers face every day.  

As part of the campaign, on 12 and 13 May 2023, more than 6,000 children will participate in numerous children’s culinary workshops, organised by more than 1,000 volunteers – parents and teachers from large and small settlements across Bulgaria.

Children’s rights to healthy nutrition are affected and account for over 10% of all complaints and alerts received by the institution of the national Ombudsman at the Rights of the Child Directorate. This data comes from the Ombudsman’s special report containing analysis and assessment of children with food allergies.

 “A serious problem in Bulgaria is the lack of statistics on children with food allergies, but it is assumed that one in every 100 people has a food allergy, in fact there may be more. It is important for the Ombudsman to plan national policies that are adequate and effective, but they must be based on real data, because the number of children with food allergies and intolerances in Bulgaria is growing. However, specific studies and up-to-date statistics of affected children are lacking”, the report says.

In it, the Ombudsman presents the main recommendations to the competent authorities and brings them to the attention of the public.

The Ombudsman insists that a special ordinance be drawn up for the nutrition of children with special nutritional needs, entrusting the National Center for Public Health and Analyses with the development of a special recipe book with appropriate recipes for the nutrition of children, to be used by all childcare facilities, schools and residential services for children.

Prof. Diana Kovacheva draws attention to the need for a national study on children with food allergies, starting a systematic collection of statistical data.

She stresses the need of preparation of a national Plan for individual reception of children with allergies in kindergartens and schools.

She recommends, with the support of the WHO, to study European and international practice on this issue and, last but not least, to strengthen the control by the competent authorities over the manufacturers of food for dietetic nutrition.

The report is available here: https://www.ombudsman.bg/bg/n/ombudsmanat-podkrepi-kampaniya-za-zdravoslo-2041