---
title: "Food safety red flag: Thousands of SA school kitchens don’t have required certificates"
description: "Across the country thousands of schools that are part of the National School Nutrition Programme are feeding children without mandatory certificates. This is one of many challenges, including subpar school kitchen infrastructure, faced by the programme."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Maverick Citizen"
author: "Iman Allie"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/iman-allie/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-26-food-safety-red-flag-thousands-of-sa-school-kitchens-don-t-have-required-certificates/"
published: "2026-08-26T11:04:00"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1765
---

# Food safety red flag: Thousands of SA school kitchens don’t have required certificates

> Across the country thousands of schools that are part of the National School Nutrition Programme are feeding children without mandatory certificates. This is one of many challenges, including subpar school kitchen infrastructure, faced by the programme.

By Iman Allie · Published 26 August 2026, 13:04 SAST

## Key points
- Urgent gap: The NSNP feeds about 9.9 million learners at roughly 19,683 schools — yet at least 8,504 of those schools are operating without mandatory Certificates of Acceptability (CoAs).
- Why it’s happening: Many schools lack proper kitchens (older buildings, converted classrooms or shacks), environmental health practitioners (EHPs) are scarce, and some CoAs have expired or were never issued.
- Damage control: Provinces report inspections, trainings, School Food Safety Teams, mobile kitchens and alternative lower-risk menu options while insisting no CoA doesn’t automatically mean meals are unsafe.
- Who pays? The NSNP grant can’t fund infrastructure — the DBE urges provinces to use infrastructure grants and to court private partners, calling kitchen upgrades a “collective societal responsibility,” but critics say government must do more.

## Content

Thousands of South African schools that are part of the[National School Nutrition Programme](https://www.gov.za/faq/education/what-national-school-nutrition-programme-nsnp)(NSNP) are feeding children without mandatory certification.

The NSNP offers two meals a day to about 9.9 million pupils at about 19,683 of South Africa’s poorest public, secondary and special schools, said Department of Basic Education (DBE) ministerial spokesperson Lukhanyo Vangqa in a written response toDaily Maverick*.*

To offer meals, school kitchens require a Certificate of Acceptability (CoA), mandatory legal documents which prove that food-preparation kitchens meet all public health, sanitation and hygiene standards required by law to safely handle or sell food, Vangqa explained.

But according to documents and information supplied by seven of South Africa’s provincial education departments, at least 8,504 schools that are part of the NSNP are operating without CoAs.

This is one of many challenges faced by the NSNP.

### Infrastructural issues at the core

According to statements supplied by and written responses from seven of South African’s provincial education departments, in the country there are about:

- 678 out of 1,077 schools in the Western Cape that have CoAs;
- 106 out of 1,408 schools in the Eastern Cape that have CoAs;
- 149 out of 499 schools in the Northern Cape that have CoAs;
- 97 out of 1,304 schools in North West that have CoAs;
- 76 out of 1,511 schools in Mpumalanga that have CoAs;
- 255 out of 761 schools in the Free State that have CoAs; and
- 167 out of 3,472 schools in Limpopo that have CoAs.

Daily Maverick sent a list of questions about CoAs to KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi. Mahlambi who referred usto the DBE’s acting director of communication and research, Terence Khala.

Daily Maverick also sent a list of questions regarding CoAs to the Gauteng Department of Education. It did not respond to the questions, but spokesperson Onwabile Lubhelwana said: “The Gauteng Department of Education can confirm that we have since responded to the Public Protector accordingly.”

According to Vangqa schools might not have CoAs because their kitchen infrastructure could be in the process of being improved or still needs to be improved. For example, some schools cooked outside using traditional methods and three-legged iron pots over an open fire. He also said environmental health practitioners (EHPs) might not be available to issue CoAs to schools, or schools that have met the requirements do not receive their CoAs immediately.

EHPs are administered by municipalities, according to Khala.

“It is important to note that the absence of a CoA does not mean that a school has been found to be unsafe or noncompliant by the relevant health authorities,” said Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond.

At Limpopo schools the main barriers are infrastructure related at Limpopo schools, said Isaac Mahlangu, the media liaison officer for the province’s education department. Some schools were built before the provision of the NSNP and were therefore not originally designed with kitchen facilities for large-scale meal preparation, he said.

Additionally, Mahlangu said, classrooms are prioritised over kitchens during planning owing to cost constraints and as a result some schools have kitchen facilities that do not yet meet the required standard for a CoA.

Although schools have designated food storage areas and some kitchen infrastructure, these may not fully comply with the health and safety requirements for food preparation environments, Mahlangu added.

Part of the challenge to get Northern Cape schools compliant is a shortage of EHPs in various districts, which has delayed the issuing of the certificates, according to the media liaison officer for that province’s education department, Geoffrey van der Merwe.

The deputy director of external communications in the North West Department of Education, Elias Malindi, told Daily Maverick that some schools in their province have converted unused classrooms into kitchens and others use shacks, while some with brick-and-mortar structures do not qualify for CoAs.

In other instances, CoAs had expired because of noncompliance or the principal had transferred to another school (a CoA is issued in the name of the current principal).

Some applications are declined because schools fail to meet all the requirements, such as a lack of running water, lack of proper infrastructure and lack of proper storage areas, said Malindi.

[Read more

Children go hungry while R336m for early childhood nutrition remains unspent

March 19, 2026 ![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/EJSN2U_HPUGqPn5oL93_a07UiuA=/450x0/smart/file/attachments/orphans/Tamsin-ECD-nutrition2_341241.jpg)](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-03-19-children-go-hungry-while-r336-million-for-early-childhood-nutrition-remains-unspent/)

### How provincial education departments are ensuring food safety

The Western Cape Education Department said it is working closely with schools to improve food safety compliance and help them to meet the CoA requirements, said Hammond. This included ensuring compliance with Regulation R962 governing food premises and the transportation of food.

The department was establishing “school food safety teams” to oversee and monitor food safety practices at school level and developing norms, standards and monitoring checklists to support improvements to school kitchens and food storage facilities.

It was also facilitating regular inspections and monitoring by EHPs and implementing strict quality assurance and control measures throughout the food supply chain, from procurement and transportation, to storage, preparation and serving.

Hammond added that food handlers are being trained in food hygiene and safety practices, safe food storage requirements and proper food preparation procedures, waste management and safe disposal of food products and personal hygiene standards.

The North West department’s infrastructure unit is erecting kitchens at schools depending on available resources and priority needs, said Malindi. Officials monitored kitchens using a checklist and those that were closer to compliance were helped in applying for CoA for a fee.

In the Northern Cape, monitors have been placed at schools to ensure compliance with health and safety standards, hence there have been no food-related incidents at any of the schools, said Van der Merwe. All new schools were built with operational kitchens and the department was allocating funds to schools to upgrade nutrition facilities.

The Eastern Cape department has established quarterly engagements to monitor, assess and support compliance across the province, said spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima.

The department was also collaborating with the Infrastructure Directorate through the NSNP Directorate to obtain comprehensive data on newly built schools. This aimed to identify facilities that had not yet been issued certificates and to expedite corrective actions, ensuring all schools met the required standards upon completion.

To incentivise excellence, the Eastern Cape department had allocated R100,000 per top-performing school, identified through the Best Performing School Awards. This would be used to upgrade their kitchens with the goal of achieving full compliance and certification.

The department had also formed a strategic partnership with Star Bakeries’ Yondla Ikamva Programme to focus on delivering fully equipped, compliant kitchen infrastructure to schools within the OR Tambo Inland, Buffalo City Metro and Chris Hani West districts.

The department offers comprehensive food safety and hygiene training for school staff to reinforce best practices in food handling, storage and preparation. It is working with EHPs and local municipalities to assess new kitchens and support certification processes, including the submission of facilities for evaluation, Mtima added.

The Mpumalanga Department of Education offers workshops to capacitate school principals, NSNP coordinators, administrative personnel and food handlers on food safety, hygiene, food preparation and safe storage practices, said head of communication Jasper Zwane. Training for food handlers was ongoing.

The department promotes food safety awareness through annual commemorative events and campaigns, including National Nutrition Week and obesity awareness initiatives, he added.

The Limpopo department is working to consolidate all school kitchen infrastructure by the end of September, engaging district municipalities to conduct inspections and determine whether certificates of compliance can be issued, targeting all schools to have compliant kitchens by 2030 and ensuring that new schools are built with kitchen facilities included, said Mahlangu.

![Iman-NSNP story](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/_KM197Cjb7gpIZMSfb2tKlnNeU4=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/MC-ECDOE-Estelle.jpg)

*Residents prepare food for children in Klipplaat as part of the school feeding scheme. (Photo: Donna van der Watt)*

### How the Department of Education is addressing food safety

Like the provincial education departments, the DBE continuously reviews and strengthens implementation measures to ensure meals are prepared and served in a manner that promotes pupil health, safety and wellbeing, said Khala.

Provincial departments worked closely with EHPs to support compliance within school kitchens and food preparation areas. This cooperation included inspections, the development of corrective action plans where necessary, and ongoing monitoring of hygiene standards and operational procedures.

Khala said education departments work with the relevant authorities to implement corrective measures and, where feasible, provide infrastructure improvements. During this process schools were expected to implement appropriate risk-mitigation measures to ensure food preparation and serving continued under the safest possible conditions while outstanding matters were addressed.

The DBE was exploring opportunities to strengthen food safety through the consideration of alternative menu options that presented lower food-handling and storage risks. These included canned protein, ultra-high-temperature milk and suitable plant-based alternatives, which may help to reduce the risks associated with highly perishable food items while maintaining the nutritional objectives of the programme.

![Iman-NSNP story](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/F3x2fRTIlyrHMDv0fQK-sKVoYQY=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/SiviweGwarube11_291621.jpg)

*Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube during a Daily Maverick interview in Johannesburg on 28 July 2026. (Photo: Leon Sadiki)*

### Infrastructure as a collective societal responsibility

During a hearing on the second leg of the South African Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into the country’s food systems in July, Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube explained that the NSNP does not have the budget to upgrade school kitchens.

“In terms of the conditional grant that we receive, that money must find its place on the plate of food,” the DBE’s chief director for care and support in schools, Muzi Ndlovu, said during the hearing.

Vanqa told Daily Maverick that the NSNP is funded by a conditional grant from National Treasury for the purpose of providing “nutritious meals to targeted schools with the strategic goal to enhance learning capacity and improve access to education”, not infrastructure.

During the SAHRC hearings Gwarube said the DBE is forced to call on the provincial education departments to use their education infrastructure grants from Treasury to build kitchens. She added that partners are augmenting school infrastructure.

The DBE advocates for sponsorship from the private sector to improve kitchens in order to obtain CoAs, Vangqa explained. In the past the department has partnered with Massmart to provide mobile kitchens for the NSNP, and the Tiger Brands Foundation has also sponsored brick-and-mortar kitchens at many schools in the past 15 years, he said.

Other key partners had improved or built kitchens as part of broader partnership agreements, such as breakfast and meal enhancement programmes, hygiene projects and advocacy events.

Vangqa said the DBE welcomes support from communities and civil society organisations as well, provided they follow applicable legislation, regulations and prescribed standards, because it recognises that the development and improvement of school infrastructure as a collective societal responsibility. **DM**