Taking a lesson from the Bihar incident in which 22 children died after eating mid-day meal, Uttar Pradesh government has directed that food would be tasted by teacher or manager of the school before served to the children.
"The government has decided to scrutiny the food grains and cooked food given to the primary school children in the midday meal scheme in the government schools," government spokesman said here on Thursday. State primary education department has issued the directive asking all the basic education officers to step up checking and verification of mid-day meals being provided at primary schools.
In the first phase six districts adjoining the state capital of lucknow would be under the scrutiny where coordinators will visit all the primary schools distributing the midday meals.
Each coordinator has been asked to visit at least four schools every month and ensure that the food being given is hygienic, uncontaminated and fresh. The government directive says that there would be no compromise on the quality of food given to the children in the midday meal scheme. In Uttar Pradesh, a Midday meal was introduced in 2006 and under the scheme, rice products are served four days a week and wheat items given on the remaining two days to the children.
Under the scheme, 116,107 primary schools with 14,255,482 students and 53,499 higher primary schools having 6,087,620 children in the state are enrolled and served the mid-day meal. In Saran district of Bihar, 23 children died and several others were fighting for the lives in hospital after consuming poisonous cooked food under the midday meal scheme.