Nelly Ayala, president of the Asociación de Empleados de Comedores Escolares (Association of School Cafeteria Employees), said "something is happening" with school cafeterias across Puerto Rico, where staff report that food supplies from local purchases are not arriving as ordered. Ayala assured that students will not go without their two daily meals. However, cafeteria employees will distribute stored frozen food, mainly canned goods.
She said employees' complaints are constant and daily: the supply needed to prepare meals is not consistent. Previously there was an electronic food distribution system; now, she said, responsibility is being placed on the cafeteria managers, who must analyze the menu, place orders manually, and pick up the food from warehouses, a slow process in which what was requested and needed sometimes does not arrive.
Ayala added that among the products expected to run short are bread, eggs, and Holsum products, which are distributed through local purchases.