Prime Minister Sherif Ismail chaired on Thursday a meeting of all the bodies concerned with offering school meals nationwide, the education minister said.

This comes after Tarek Shawki announced Wednesday that the provision of meals to students at schools nationwide would be suspended until the cause of the food poisoning of around 400 students in government-run schools in several governorates earlier is determined.

At a press conference on Thursday, Shawky said there are seven bodies in charge of offering school meals; namely the ministries of health, finance, social solidarity, agriculture, education and industry.

There are committees in the governorates to follow up the school meals process, he added.

In March, about 4,650 students suffered food poisoning, he said, noting that there are 10 million students eating school meals all over the country.

Assistant Health Minister Amr Qandil said samples from school meals are being tested.

Source: MENA