Dillon: Soldiers to be given balanced meals

JULIEN NEAVES

NATIONAL Security Minister Edmund Dillon says every effort is being made by the ministry to ensure all agencies of the State are provided with balanced meals with cost-cutting measures.

He was responding to an urgent question in Senate yesterday from Opposition Senator Wade Mark on action being taken to address the complaints of members of the Defence Force about poor food quality due to a reduction in the budget allocation. He said Chief of Defence Staff Commodore Hayden Pritchard has asked formation commanders to pay attention to the preparation of meals, priority of purchase of ingredients, standardisation of menus and purchasing of food for economies of scale. He also reported he has been in discussions with Finance Minister Colm Imbert for additional releases to satisfy the requirement.

Mark then asked Dillon to confirm a Newsday report that soldiers were fed pancakes and leftover tuna, but Dillon said he could not confirm this. Mark asked when action would be taken to ensure balanced meals were provided and Dillon responded that the Chief of Defence Staff had told him efforts were ongoing as the parliamentarians spoke.