Tug-of-war between two government departments leaves the midday meal untested

AIPUR: A tug-of-war between the midday meal commissionerate and the food safety department regarding the responsibility of testing of the midday meal served to 62 lakh school children in the state left the mandatory monthly exercise on hold for months together.

According to the rules, the samples of the midday meal had to be tested every month for ensuring quality and nutritional value of the meal but the midday meal commissionerate says they do not have the wherewithal to conduct the monthly exercise and asked the food safety department to carry out the job.

According to the order of September 30 2015, the samples of the midday meal had to be tested once in a month in every district at a National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL). The midday meal commissionate said they had duly informed the state food safety department of the requirement as they have infrastructure for testing food articles, but they refused to comply. So, the food served under the midday meal programme has not been fulfilled the mandatory testing for the last several months.

Rajasthan Food safety commissioner Dr BR Meena said the testing of the meal served under midday meal is not their job as it is not covered under the Food Safety Act. According to the Food Safety Act those foods which are bought and sold in the market is covered under the act. Thus midday meal is outside their purview.