Meerut: In an attempt to check adulteration in food being served as midday meal to government school students, the Midday Meal (MDM) Authority has instructed the Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) to inspect cooked meals in schools and take samples of the same to ensure that children are not served substandard food.
While FSDA is supposed to carry out these checks routinely, the fresh set instructions have been issued as some of the districts were found to be not complying with the set guidelines.
“FSDA has been instructed to take samples of cooked food prepared as midday meals to check its quality and submit a report to the task force formed for this purpose and also to the respective basic shiksha adhikaris,” read the order issued by Abdul Samad, director, Midday Meal Authority.
It should be noted that the state’s annual work plan submitted to the Centre also includes a report on the quality of midday meals prepared in government schools.
“All food safety officers are instructed to take samples of cooked meals from schools. These samples should be taken in a way that in one month at least 10 schools are covered. The report should be presented before the basic shiksha adhikari and the task force set up for this purpose,” read the order issued by Samad.
The letter further stated that food samples should be checked for adulterants and biological contamination.
Virendra Kumar, divisional midday meal coordinator, said, “The main problem with FSDA officials in Meerut is that though they take samples of food prepared in midday meals, their reports are delayed. For instance, the report of a sample of food that was taken in December has not arrived even till date.”
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