Is the quality of served in mid-day meal scheme as per norms?
26 Mar, 2013An application was filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking the details on the quality of food being served in the schools of Delhi under the mid day meal scheme.
The reply to the application, provided by the Deputy Director Education (Mid-Day Meal), states that 288 samples had been lifted from schools in 2012-13 for laboratory tests. It said that only 50 of the tested samples passed the qualification test implying that 83% of food samples failed to qualify under the protein and calorific norms determined by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
However, the reply stated that the data for 2012-13 was an improvement over the data for previous years. In 2010-11, a total of 466 samples were collected from the schools and the kitchens of the NGO or service provider out of which only 5 samples (around 1%) had passed the test. Similarly, in 2011-12, 27 samples out of 541 (5%) had passed the quality test.