Foreign diplomats visited the "GotuYimo" Kitchen Factory in the city of Bucha. The event became an important stage in expanding international cooperation around the school nutrition reform, which has been implemented under the patronage of the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska since 2020.
The "GotuYimo" Kitchen Factory is a modern innovative enterprise that uses cook&chill technology to provide 16 schools in the Bucha community and about 7,500 students with high-quality food every day. The participants of the visit got acquainted with the full production cycle: from cooking and shock cooling to +3°C to the logistics of delivering ready-made chilled meals to schools, where they are heated in combi-steamers before serving them to children.
The event was attended by representatives of diplomatic missions of Austria, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, China, Latvia, Lithuania, the United States of America, Finland, France, Japan and the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine.
The speakers at the event were: Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Nadia Kuzmychova, Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksiy Ryabchyn, Director of the Department of Economic Diplomacy and Reconstruction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Kira Spirydonova, Head of the EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine Allan Pag Christensen, Buchanan City Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk, Head of the School Nutrition Reform Support Team Orest Stepaniak, Head of the KP “Factory-Kitchen “GotuYimo” Tetyana Aleksiychuk.
The speakers emphasized that the reform is a strategic investment in the health of the nation and the future of Ukrainian children. Updated to 2027, the Strategy envisages providing 3 million schoolchildren with quality food starting from September 2026. Kira Spirydonova particularly emphasized the new goal of the reform - strengthening international cooperation through the exchange of experience and attracting donor support.
The Director of the Department of Economic Diplomacy and Recovery emphasized: “Ukrainian technology and improved canning methods allow ready-made school meals to be stored for 3 to 6 months without losing nutritional properties and taste. This opens up the opportunity to export Ukrainian healthy school meals even to other continents - from Africa to Latin America and Asia.”
She called on international partners to become more actively involved in joint projects, thanked the diplomats present for the support already provided, and expressed Ukraine’s readiness to become a global hub for innovative solutions in the field of school nutrition.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is grateful to international partners for the significant financial support already provided for the implementation of the reform in Ukraine and their readiness to join its further development. Joint efforts are bringing closer the moment when every Ukrainian child will receive tasty, healthy, and safe food at school every day.