FUKUSHIMASeptember 17 (News about Japan) – A nutritionist at a school in Fukushima embezzled 7.98 million yen by using cheaper ingredients, such as replacing chicken thighs with chicken breasts, to cut costs.
The 42-year-old school resource officer, who was responsible for budgeting meals, used cost-cutting tactics to divert money from the school meal account. For example, instead of using thigh meat as planned, they opted for the cheaper breast meat.
In the first year, the employee managed to reduce the cost per meal from the allocated Y310 to Y296, resulting in a saving of Y14 per meal. In the second year, the budget was further reduced from Y330 to Y280 per meal, resulting in a saving of Y50 per meal.
Concerns were raised about the impact on portion sizes, but there were no complaints or questions about the menu, sources said.
The embezzled funds were reportedly spent on travel, beauty treatments and dog grooming expenses. The employee admitted he was struggling to manage his personal finances and feared he wouldn’t be able to pay his credit card bills.
Fukushima Prefecture fired the nutritionist and the employee repaid the full embezzled amount.
Source: ANNE
