Ex-Minister’s Prodeina Wins US$4.65 Million in School Food Contracts
Central America · POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The finding Prodeina, founded by ex-minister Pablo Anliker, is the main supplier to school feeding programs, El Faro reported on 25 August 2026
- —The money US$4,650,459.15, or 31 percent of the ministry’s US$15,021,846.07 food budget for 5,000 schools
- —The company founded 23 March 2007 with US$11,428 in assets; the Anliker family has held 99.99 percent of shares since 2008
- —The beneficiary the founder’s father, Pablo Anliker Palomo, board chairman in 2023, is the name on the Comprasal procurement records
- —The backdrop Anliker was placed on the US Engel List on 1 July 2021 over alleged corruption in office
A firm founded by a former agriculture minister became the main food supplier to El Salvador’s 5,000 public schools, taking 31 percent of the Education Ministry’s feeding budget.
A company founded by former agriculture minister Pablo Anliker has become the main food supplier to El Salvador’s public schools, an investigation published by El Faro on 25 August 2026 found. The firm, Productos e Inversiones Nacionales, known as Prodeina, won one of every three Education Ministry contracts between 2025 and 2026 to supply the country’s 5,000 public schools.
What El Faro Found
The San Salvador-based newsroom El Faro reported on 25 August 2026 that Prodeina won one of every three contracts awarded by the Ministry of Education, known as Mined, between 2025 and 2026 to supply food to the country’s 5,000 public schools. The data comes from Comprasal, El Salvador’s public procurement portal, and from transparency documents of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Mined set aside US$15,021,846.07 for food purchases for its school feeding programs. Of that budget, 31 percent, or US$4,650,459.15 across two years, went to contracts awarded to Prodeina, making the family company the single largest supplier to the programs, according to the report.
The Contracts, Line by Line
On 25 February 2025, Mined awarded Prodeina its first contract, worth US$2,504,680.75, to supply 700.61 metric tonnes of cereals, the equivalent of 70,061 boxes of twenty half-kilogram bags, for the School Breakfast Program. The same day, the company won a second contract worth US$55,226 to provide rice for the School Feeding and Health Program.
One year later, on 25 February 2026, the company won a further US$2,090,552.40 to supply cereal for the breakfast program and rice, red beans, powdered milk, sugar and vegetable oil for the feeding and health program, according to procurement records cited by El Faro.
The ministry made the purchases through a mechanism known as auction on private platforms, and the Anliker family company’s bid was selected in each case, the records show.
A Company That Started With US$11,428
Pablo Salvador Anliker Infante founded Prodeina on 23 March 2007, according to the official gazette of the time, and the company began operations with assets of US$11,428. In its 2008 financial statements, Anliker declared himself the majority owner: president of the board and holder of 99.99 percent of the shares.
The company’s growth accelerated while Anliker held public office. Prodeina reported assets of US$3,971,757 in 2019, the year he became minister, and US$4,599,574.26 in 2021, the year he left government. By December 2023, the last year with published financial statements, assets had reached US$12,555,188. El Faro reported that during Anliker’s time as minister the company benefited from loans from state-owned banks.
By the 2023 balance sheet, the founder’s father, Pablo Anliker Palomo, had taken over as chairman of the board. It is the father’s name that appears as the beneficiary of the education contracts on Comprasal, the public procurement site, according to the investigation.
From the Cabinet to the Engel List
Anliker, described by El Faro as a childhood friend of President Nayib Bukele, served as agriculture minister from 1 June 2019 to 7 April 2021, and then as vice minister until 31 May 2021. After leaving office he faced a Court of Accounts lawsuit over US$133 million in pandemic food-program spending and a prosecutor’s investigation into US$71 million in irregular contracts, the newsroom has reported.
On 1 July 2021, the United States added Anliker to the Engel List of corrupt and anti-democratic actors, citing his involvement in acts of corruption and the appropriation of public funds for personal benefit. Four years later, the government he once served awarded contracts that made his family’s company the main food supplier to public schools.
El Faro said it requested comment from Anliker on 21 August and wrote to the Education Ministry’s communications office asking why it had chosen the company. Neither had responded by publication time.
An Education Spending Boom as Backdrop
The contracts land at a moment when education has become the showcase of Bukele’s social policy. Days before the El Faro story, the president pledged more than US$3 billion a year for education, a level the government says is over 8 percent of gross domestic product and roughly triple what previous administrations spent, along with 50,000 new university and technical scholarships.
International lenders are backing parts of that push. On 31 March 2026 the World Bank approved a US$501 million program, called AprendES, to accelerate learning with digital innovation in public schools serving grades two through eleven, to be implemented between 2026 and 2031. The Inter-American Development Bank separately approved a US$100 million loan for higher-education scholarships on 28 July 2026, ratified by the legislature in August.
The World Bank’s country manager for El Salvador, Carine Clert, said the AprendES program reflects how digital innovation can personalize learning and strengthen teaching practice. None of the international financing relates to the school feeding contracts won by Prodeina.
Why the Contracts Matter
School feeding is one of the Salvadoran state’s most visible services, reaching families in every municipality. Who supplies that food, and at what price, shapes both public spending and nutrition for hundreds of thousands of children.
Procurement specialists note that contracts flowing to companies linked to sanctioned former officials test the government’s anti-corruption messaging. The Bukele administration dissolved the internationally backed Cicies anti-graft commission in June 2021, weeks before the Engel List designations.
For readers outside El Salvador, the story illustrates a regional pattern: investigative outlets, rather than state auditors, remain the main check on how pandemic-era procurement networks are being absorbed into everyday government contracting.
What to Watch
The Education Ministry has not explained its choice of supplier. Any response, or a review by the Court of Accounts, would be the next formal steps.
The company’s financial filings for 2024 and 2025, when published, will show how much the Mined contracts added to its revenue.
El Faro said it will continue reporting on the school feeding program’s suppliers, so further contracts may surface.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Prodeina and who owns it?
Prodeina, short for Productos e Inversiones Nacionales, is a Salvadoran food company founded on 23 March 2007 by former agriculture minister Pablo Anliker with US$11,428 in assets. The Anliker family has held 99.99 percent of its shares since 2008, and the founder’s father, Pablo Anliker Palomo, chaired the board as of the 2023 balance sheet.
How much did Prodeina win in school food contracts?
Prodeina won US$4,650,459.15 across 2025 and 2026, or 31 percent of the Education Ministry’s US$15,021,846.07 food budget for 5,000 public schools. The awards were dated 25 February 2025 and 25 February 2026, El Faro reported.
Why is the Prodeina story controversial?
Founder Pablo Anliker was added to the US Engel List on 1 July 2021 over alleged corruption, including a US$133 million pandemic food-program case. Awarding school food contracts to his family’s company raises questions about procurement oversight in El Salvador.
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Sources
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