Bhubaneswar: Among many other issues affecting proper implementation of Mid-Day Meal (MDM) programme in Odisha, safety issues pertaining to the food being served has now come to fore with the Odisha Food Commission asking the State government to take urgent action.
Based on the quality test report of cooked food samples of MDM received from the Director-cum- Food Analyst, Odisha; the commission has urged the Odisha government to “take action against authorities who fed such unsafe food to school children.”
As per the food analyst’s report, in the year 2016, food samples collected from HM Government UP School in Bangomunda; Government Upper Primary School Jhar-Bolangir, Puirntala and HM Katarkerla Sevashram, Katarkela, Bolangir were found to be unsafe for consumption. Similarly, MDM samples of 9 schools in Malkangiri, Balasore, Koraput, Sundergarh, Khurda and Jajpur districts collected in 2017 were also found to be unsafe.
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“We have directed the School and Mass Education department to collect samples of MDM from various schools at regular intervals. Wherever discrepancies are found action should be initiated by concerned departments,” said Odisha Food Commission Chairman, Ranglal Jamuda.
Sundergarh District Education Officer, Dhruva Charan Behera said “We have been maintaining quality standards in procurement of foodgrains. However, at the food preparation level some scientific processes need to be adopted. The food quality report will help us in this regard.”
On the other hand, School & Mass Education minister Badri Narayan Patra said “We have been conducting regular quality checks. I am not aware of the recent findings and if such cases are true then action will be taken.”
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