Price guidelines for college canteens have raised fears among students and catering staff that it could affect the quality of the food.

According to a list of recommended prices published by Beijing's education commission this month, servings of vegetables like cabbage and potato should cost less than 1.5 yuan, while meat dishes should cost no more than 6 yuan.

"In principle, 6 yuan can cover most basic costs, such as raw materials, labor, water, electricity and gas," said Zhao Xianghua, who is in charge of that canteen at Beijing Forestry University and helped draw up the plan after a one-month citywide investigation.

"Colleges can change their meals in line with their situation, such as reducing the amount of oil," he added.

The guidelines, which do not affect colleges that come directly under the Ministry of Education, such as Peking and Tsinghua universities, also state recommended weights for dishes: 300 grams for vegetables and 350 grams for meat with soup.

Several students who talked to METRO on Monday said they expect standards to drop, including Wu Jianlong, who complained that the quality in the canteen at Beijing International Studies University already lags far behind a privately run restaurant.

"Usually I spend 4 yuan on vegetables like pumpkin, eggplant and balsam pear with rice, but the cost has gone up to about 7 yuan at school-run canteens," said the senior law major.

Xie Benxue, who is responsible for purchasing raw materials at China Youth University for Political Sciences, told METRO that rapid inflation has already turned up the heat in college kitchens.

"In addition to students' needs, we also need to consider the chefs' salaries," he said, adding his canteen has replaced popular dishes like sugar vinegar pork with stir-fried cabbage to save on costs. "We now buy relatively cheap chicken and duck instead of pork and beef. We racked our brains, but we just can't make vegetables taste like meat."

College cook Shi Bicheng said he has "no motivation" to make delicious and cheap meals. "Most students prefer privately run canteens, even though our food is cheaper," he said. "We have to haggle over every ounce of vegetables and can't balance cost and variety."

Sun Jianqin, director of nutrition at Shanghai's Huadong Hospital, agreed that the price control measures could have an impact on students eating a balanced diet.

China Daily

(China Daily 05/18/2011 page)