TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Goa State Human Rights Commission has recommended to Goa government to ensure that students of government and aided schools get healthy food and prevent recurrence of mid day meals poisoning.
The Commission headed by Justice P K Mishra has asked the self help groups (SHGs) and mahila mandals to provide hygienic and hot food to the students while also instructing that food should be cooked in clean and hygienic kitchens, which are approved by the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).
“All SHGs and mahila mandals which are given the contract to supply mid day meals to students…should cook the food in clean and tidy kitchens which are duly approved by the FDA. They should maintain cleanliness and the place of cooking and the food should be cooked in hygienic atmosphere,” the first of seven recommendations reads.
The three-member commission disposed of three suo motu proceedings into the alleged mid day meals poisoning incidents in which more than 100 students were taken ill after eating the meals in three high schools – Mallikarjun Vidhyala high school at Canacona, St Joseph High School in Usgao, Ponda and Kamleshwar high school at Deulwado, Korgao mid-last year. The FDA tests had confirmed e-coli bacteria in several food (cooked and raw) samples which were collected from the affected schools. Separate police complaints were filed by the State at concerned police stations, all of which are still being investigated.
The commission has meanwhile also suggested that FDA should carry out periodic inspections of kitchens, storerooms to ensure that food ingredients are not contaminated. The Directorate of Educations has been asked to assist the FDA during inspections.
The commission also recommended that representatives of school managements and Parents Teachers Associations should taste the cooked food before serving it to students. “As far as possible, the concerned authorities must ensure that only hot food is provided to students to avoid contamination in transit. Directorate of Education should keep a strict vigilance over the SHGs and Mahila Mandals while implementing the mid day meal scheme to avoid untoward incidents,” it adds.
The recommendations have been kept open for comments from the government as it is also asked to submit action taken report or proposed to be taken, to the commission by February 14.
