T’PURAM/KOZHIKODE: Food and Civil Supplies Minister GR Anil called for intervention by people, parents in particular, to ensure good quality food is served in schools, even as teams from various government departments started joint inspections at noon-meal facilities on Monday.
“The government is taking the issue seriously. Public intervention is needed to make sure that no issue related to the food being served in schools is reported,” said Anil.
Flash inspections will continue in the coming days. The teams comprise officers from the education, health, civil supplies and food safety departments. Water samples will be collected from more than 12,000 public schools and sent for quality check. They will be tested at the Cashew Export Promotion Council’s laboratory. The teams will examine the general hygiene of the kitchen, serving area, condition of the water tank and utensils for cooking. They will also create awareness among the staff associated with noon meal on food safety standards.
“An awareness campaign had covered many schools earlier. Food safety officers who are part of the inspection team will check whether the staff are trained,” said Food Safety Commissioner V R Vinod.
The noon feeding officers at the district-level and noon meal officers at the sub-district level will check the hygiene standards frequently. The inspection team will also check the condition of toilets in every school.Minister Anil visited Civil Station UP School and St Vincent’s School, both in Kozhikode, to inspect the quality of food being served to the students.
The minister told the mediapersons that good quality rice is being supplied by the civil supplies department to schools. General Education Minister V Sivankutty had lunch with the students of the Government UP School at Poojappura in the state capital. Students from three schools had fallen ill after consuming noon meal, but the minister said only after receiving the lab results could the government confirm whether the food poisoning was due to the low quality of the materials used.
Water samples of 12,000 public schools have been sent for quality check
Minister Anil visits Civil Station UP School and St Vincent’s School, both in Kozhikode, to inspect the quality of food being served to the students
Noon feeding officers at the district-level and noon meal officers at the sub-district level will check the hygiene standards frequently. The standard of toilets will also be monitored