After the food poisoning case in Bihar, leaders in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation continued to make surprise visits to school kitchens that prepare food under the mid-day meal scheme. A directive has also been issued to school authorities to personally monitor and taste the food before distributing it to the schoolchildren.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation Education Committee chairman Satish Upadhyay on Thursday visited various pantries of non-government organisations which supply mid-day meal in the corporation schools and directed the officials to lift food samples from five schools.
He also insisted that the sampling of mid-day meals be conducted by the officers on a weekly basis and the tests should be carried out by notified labs only.
Check before you serve
“Mr. Upadhyay thoroughly investigated the preparation of the mid-day meal, materials used for it and the adherence to sanitation norms. A directive has been issued to school officials like the principal in-charge and related persons to check the food themselves first as per rules before distributing the same to children,” said a senior SDMC official.
“We have also made it very clear to the NGOs who supply food to the schools that stern action will be taken against defaulters and no compromise will be tolerated in the nutritional value of the food. The full weekly details of mid-day meals should be displayed on the notice board,” he added.
During the day, there were also some reports of cooked food, apparently from the mid-day meals, being dumped near the Yamuna in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, but the civic body officials denied that it had anything to do with the food scheme. “The reports of mid-day meal being dumped on the sides of the Yamuna in East Delhi Corporation are completely false and baseless. It’s all speculation,” reacted an EDMC official.
