Hungarian state subsidies for public catering increased by 83 percent or 24 billion forints (EUR 79 million) in the 2010-2014 period, Minister of State for Family and Social Affairs Miklós Soltész said at a press conference in Székesfehérvár, central Hungary on Monday.

He said that while state subsidies for meals in nurseries, kindergartens, schools and universities amounted to 28.7 billion forints (EUR 94.4 million) in 2010, the sum has increased to 52.6 billion forints (EUR 173 million) this year, providing one hot and two cold meals-a-day for those in need.

DownloadMr. Soltész said that 366,000 children receive free meals and 202,000 receive meals at a fifty percent discount. Fully subsidized meals are available to children in whose families the monthly income per capita is below 37,000 forints (EUR 122) or 39,900 (EUR 131) for single-parents families, and also to those who raise disabled children, he added.

The state subsidizes fifty percent of the price of meals for families whose average income is above the threshold but who are raising disabled or chronically ill children.

DownloadThe Minister of State said that in future the meal subsidy system will be extended to those children who don not attend any form of education, adding  that in the 2014-2020 period food aid from the European Union will be directly distributed by the Ministry for Human Resources, thus streamlining the process.

(Ministry of Human Resources)