LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh is witnessing another round of food censuring with the ban on serving non-vegetarian food in the mess of prestigious King George’s Medical University (KGMU).
The issue has snowballed into a major political controversy, with the opposition portraying it as an attempt to regulate citizens’ food choices.
The main opposition, the Samajwadi Party (SP), dubbed it a ‘Tughlaki Farman’ (an arbitrary diktat), while the Congress felt that dietary habits were a matter of personal choice.
While the SP questioned if similar restrictions would apply to BJP leaders who were openly consuming fish and meat, the Congress said that such decisions should not be imposed unless there were compelling public health reasons.
The controversy began after KGMU issued an order recently prohibiting the preparation and serving of non-vegetarian food in all hostel messes and cooperative canteens on the campus.
However, the restriction does not prevent students from consuming non-vegetarian food outside the hostel premises or ordering food from outside.
On the issue, university officials said that the decision applied only to common mess facilities and defended it by saying that it was aimed at ensuring better hygiene and food safety standards.
The university authorities justified the order while referring to shortcomings flagged during an inspection by the Governor’s office recently.
The move followed a recent inspection by Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, who is also the Chancellor of state universities. During the inspection, officials reportedly found expired spices being used in hostel kitchens and flagged lapses in food preparation and storage.
The Governor directed the university administration to improve food quality, strengthen monitoring of hostel messes and ensure strict compliance with hygiene norms.
Although Raj Bhavan sources clarified that the Governor did not specifically direct the university to ban non-vegetarian food, the KGMU administration subsequently decided to stop its preparation in hostel messes, arguing that maintaining hygiene standards would be easier under a vegetarian menu.
According to KGMU spokesperson Prof KK Singh, the decision was taken after consultations with the Dean of Student Welfare and the Chief Proctor. According to the university, the objective is to provide safe, hygienic and nutritious meals to students and avoid complications arising from the storage and handling of meat products, which require stricter food safety protocols.
The KGMU controversy is the latest in a series of debates surrounding food policies in educational institutions in Uttar Pradesh.
Just weeks ago, similar questions were raised after Governor Anandiben Patel expressed concern over the serving of non-vegetarian food in hostel messes at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences (RMLIMS), Lucknow. Then the institute had maintained that hostel menus were decided by committees comprising student representatives and faculty members, and any changes would require consensus.