Garden Catering Trade is the food supplier to kindergartens in Fergana province where children were poisoned with food. Over the weekend, at least 62 children from three public kindergartens in the city (No. 2, No. 58, and No. 61) were hospitalized with a diagnosis of "acute diarrheal disease of alimentary etiology." Tthree of them are in intensive care in "stable" condition. A criminal case has been opened under the Violation of sanitary regulations charge.
The Revizor Telegram channel noted that on July 25, 2024, by order of the Fergana province governor Khairulla Bozorov, a catering system had been deployed in public kindergartens in Kuvasay district. Garden Catering Trade's proposals for meal preparation and delivery had been selected
At the time the order was made, the company had been in operation for approximately one month.
On July 30, 2024, the provincial administration announced that the catering delivery system was being implemented on a trial basis. On August 1, Garden Catering Trade received the right to supply meals to kindergartens for five months without a tender or competitive bidding process.
"The joint venture Garden Catering, established with Turkish partners, was selected for the pilot project given that it, based on recommendations from the World Health Organization, provides for the preparation of over 100 types of dishes, salads, and desserts for children's diets. The company employs 12 highly qualified Turkish chefs and two healthy food engineers," the statement stated.
The contracts referred to the company as an Uzbek-Turkish joint venture, but it is not currently considered one. The company's sole owner is Ikboljon Bozorov (his last name is the same as the governor’s).
The company's last Instagram post was published in November 2024.
Violations that did not prevent continued operation
The press service of the Ministry of Preschool and School Education reported on July 30, 2024, that a check found that Garden Catering's dishes had not complied with SanPiN 0016-21 standards. This means that the recipe collection, composition, and nutritional value of the dishes offered by the catering company were not developed based on these requirements.
Furthermore, systemic steps to ensure compliance with sanitary and hygienic requirements for the transportation, storage, and distribution of meals to children have not been defined. The catering company has not established a special laboratory for daily sampling of food products and prepared meals intended for children, which is necessary for continuous quality control, the report noted.
Furthermore, Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 407 of June 30, 2021, which served as the basis for the governor’s office order, as well as other regulations, do not provide for procedures for organizing catering services. There is no legal basis for concluding contracts through the Xarid.uz portal or other platforms. However, compliance with the requirements of the Public Procurement Law is mandatory, the Ministry of Justice emphasized.
The Anti-Trust Committee Competition issued an order to overturn the governor's order based on Article 22 of the Law "On Competition," but it was not overturned.
Contract prices
Garden Catering Trade continued to supply food to kindergartens under direct contracts, the price of which exceeded 108 billion soums (US$8.8 million).
In H1 of 2024, the company was awarded worth 2.27 billion soums to supply food to kindergartens in the Kuvasay District.
In 2025, this price increased significantly—170 deals worth 81.3 billion soums, including 60.8 billion soums through direct contracts and 20.4 billion soums through the online store.
Garden Catering Trade now provides catering services for kindergartens in Kuva and Fergana districts, as well as Fergana and Margilan.
One of the most recent contracts, dated February 6, stipulates that the company must provide meals for children aged 3 to 7 years in 27 kindergartens: three hot meals a day for 1,996 children and four hot meals a day for 3,198 children.
In September 2025, more than 1,000 children in state-run kindergartens were hospitalized with symptoms of food poisoning in the Buka, Pskent, Bekabad, Akkurgan, and Kuyichirchik districts of Tashkent province. The kindergartens were served by three outsource food service companies that purchased fermented milk products from the Akkurgan-based company Shark Milk Product. Government agencies have yet to provide information on the results of that investigation.
