The MENUTRE program, or Modelo Estatal de Nutrición Escolar, is a modality of distribution of hot breakfasts promoted by DIF Jalisco.
The 2021-22 school cycle will serve a total of 52,500 children, and takes place in 610 localities serving 906 educational centers located in the 12 regions of the State, of which 60 of the kitchens are installed in indigenous zones.
After the face-to-face pause in the educational system due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to expand MENUTRE's scope, in 2019 and 2020 through an investment of 15,408,740 pesos, 65 new kitchens were equipped in preparation of the new school year, as well as 40 retrofits to strengthen quality in facilities that already had a kitchen/dining room.
In addition to equipping the food spaces, MENUTRE offers mothers and fathers of families nutritional guidance and training for the handling and preparation of food, with which they learn to prepare menus according to a pre-established manual.
Conurrently, the General Subdirectorate for Food Safety of DIF Jalisco operates the School Breakfast Program within 6,636 schools throughout the state, with a registry of more than 232,000 children, of which 158,795 receive hot food.
The community of Los Michel in Hostotipaquillo has received one of the 65 new kitchens installed in educational establishments at the beginning of this school year.
The 46 students from the “Benito Juárez” Elementary School, located in the rural community Los Michel, returned to the classrooms with a new incentive to improve their performance; their new kitchen-dining room of the State School Nutrition Model (MENUTRE,) where they will receive a hot and nutritious breakfast prepared by their own mothers.
The Director of the “Benito Juárez” Elementary, Ignacio González Rodríguez, recalled that in the absence of adequate space for food preparation on the campus, mothers and fathers had formed work teams to make use of the supplies provided by DIF. They prepared breakfasts at home and took them back to campus, which made it difficult to deliver them to students at a suitable temperature.
After making representations to the authorities, the school community got the Hostotipaquillo City Council to build a space to place a kitchen and breakfast area; while the municipal DIF received support from the Jalisco DIF System for equipping the food space.
González Rodríguez highlighted the benefits that receiving school breakfast represents for students. “As they say, a student with breakfast and a good diet will always have more desire to learn. Therefore, they come to the classroom with more energy. Progress has been noticed, and it has been very favorable," he said.
Lucero Janeth Ibarra Rentería, mother of two students from the “Benito Juárez” Elementary School, highlighted the benefit for families of having the MENUTRE kitchen, since it guarantees that their children have access to healthy and nutritious food even when their community is far away from the municipal seat.
“As many of us live far away, they overlook (helping) us… or when it rains, it becomes very difficult for us to move food. So the fact of having the kitchen here and being able to cook here is a lot for us,” she said.