Feb 1, 2020
By PradipChakraborty
Former Director
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
Abstract
School going children in India spent most of their time in school. At present, most of the schools are covered under Mid-Day Meal Scheme of the state and central government. However, the school going children in urban India mostly bring tiffin from their home whereas in rural areas, they are mostly dependent on Mid-Day Meal scheme. Hence the consumption of food is different among urban and rural students. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, under the direction of Delhi High Court, have prepared guidelines on the availability of safe food among school children. Balanced diet, safe and nutritious food for the school going children is of paramount importance for their growth and well-being. The guidelines has been prepared scientifically to achieve this.
Introduction
M/S.Uday Foundation, a non-government organization based in Jaipur, Rajasthan had expressed concern on availability of safe food among school children. In fact they had lodged a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before Delhi High Court on this issue in 2010. India has a peculiar situation where urban school children are mostly suffering from obesity but rural school children are suffering from malnutrition.
Since Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is the food regulatory authority in India, Delhi High Court had issued directive to the FSSAI to frame guidelines and submit the same before Delhi High Court. Due to complex nature of food consumption among urban and rural school children, it was a huge task for the FSSAI to frame guidelines on availability of safe food among school children. Also FSSAI did not have the necessary infrastructure to carry out nationwide survey.
As Director, FSSAI, the author was entrusted the job as nodal officer for this project. Considering importance of the project, M/S. A. C. Nielsen was engaged to carry out the survey and prepare guidelines on behalf of the FSSAI.
Plan of Work
M/S. A. C. Nielsen made a sampling plan to undertake the survey. In their sampling plan, they had divided whole country into five zones. They had selected six hundred schools across the country for survey. They interviewed the Principal of each school. It means they interviewed six hundred Principal. In every school, they selected thirty students and interviewed them. Total 18000 students were interviewed in the process. They also inspected existing infrastructure for Mid-Day Meal scheme and the condition of the school canteens.
Problem faced during survey
Initially most of the schools refused to extend cooperation to the Nielsen team to see infrastructure and their staff and students get interviewed. The author as Director, FSSAI had wrote to the Education Secretary of the States to extend cooperation to the Nielsen team to conduct the survey which is being done on the direction of the Delhi High Court. Even the author had to speak to them over telephone on this issue. Accordingly Education Secretary of the states and union territories had issued instructions to the Principal of the schools to extend cooperation to the Nielsen team.
Objectives of the guidelines
The main objective of the guidelines is to encourage schools to provide safe and nutritious food suitable for consumption of children. Knowledge of safe food handling practice needs to be disseminate among educational establishments. School going children should be protected from illness after consuming unsafe food. This guidelines should establish the minimum food safety practices for the food available in school canteens, school premises and nearby periphery of schools.
The guidelines cover educational programme for kitchen staff in schools, inspection and auditing of kitchen from where Mid-Day Meal is served to the school children. Since some of the children bring tiffin from home, principles of food hygiene to be communicated to school children and parents. Health education program to be communicated and encouraged.
Structure of the guidelines
While framing the guidelines, two components namely “food control “and” food safety ” have been considered. Food control ensure that food is safe. All aspects starting from procurement of raw materials, handling, storage, cooking, processing and distribution have been considered. Food safety refers to all those hazards that renders food injurious to the health of the children.
Study details
Most of the school in India are covered under Mid-Day Meal program. As per Mid-Day Meal norms, school children should get 650-900 kcal/ day. However, during case study, it was observed that approximately 489 kcal/ day is provided to each child. Hence, the school children are not getting requisite calorie. They should get essential nutrients in required amounts. Diet can vary with age, gender, physiological status and physical activity of the children. Lower dietary intake can lead to under nutrition resulting in deficiency diseases. Similarly, higher dietary intake can lead to over nutrition. To avoid this, the school should sensitize parents and other stakeholders to revamp the quality of meals considering food availability and nutrient intake.
Balanced Diet
Balanced diet means any diet that provides proper proportion and required amount of nutrients. Balanced diet should provide 50-60% of total calories from carbohydrates, 10-15% calories from proteins and 20-30% from fat. Other non-nutrients like dietary fibre, antioxidants and photochemical also bestow positive health benefits.
Draft guidelines
On the basis of in depth study, visit to the schools and interview with the school students and Principal, M/S. A. C. Nielsen submitted draft guidelines to the FSSAI within the stipulated time period of six months. The author as the nodal officer of the study convened a meeting of senior officials including the Chairperson of the FSSAI where the Nielsen team gave a detailed presentation on draft guidelines.
On the basis of availability of food in school canteens, they have classified food into four different categories, namely:
- a) Junk Food which means food which is high in calories and low in nutrition – like Samosa, potato chips, chocolates, soft drinks like Coke, Pepsi etc.
- b) Fast Food which contains fat and carbohydrates like Bargers.
- c) Nutritious Food which contains nutrients.
- d) Unsafe Food which are prepared/ sold unhygienic way and unsafe for consumption.
Before finalization of the guidelines, a number of industry associations moved Delhi High Court to consider their views as they are important stakeholders. Delhi High Court issued directive to the FSSAI to organize meeting with stakeholders at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai and consider the views of the stakeholders.
The author, as the nodal officer of the study, had to organize and attend meeting at these places along with Nielsen team.
Main objection of the stakeholders is using the term “Junk Food “. According to them, the term Junk Food has psychological effect on the consumers. They wanted to delete the term Junk Food as it will affect the Rs 20,000/ crores industry in India.
Guidelines have been made on the following aspects:
- a) Guidelines related to quality of food.
- b) Guidelines related to procurement process – raw and cooked food should be received fresh and safe while entering the supply chain.
- c) Guidelines related to balanced diet – children should get nutrients required for growth and development.
- d) Guidelines related to quantity – students should get more Green Leafy Vegetables (GLV), fruits and consume treated water in abundance.
- e) Guidelines related to restriction / moderation of sale/ distribution of unhealthy foods – health education program to be introduced in schools.
- f) Guidelines related to provide appropriate diet under all conditions – during illness of children, school should provide soft cooked proper foods easily digestible.
- g) Guidelines related to provide treated water to students and encourage to consume water in abundance.
- h) Guidelines related to promote regular exercise and physical activity to maintain ideal body weight.
- i) Guidelines related to ensure storage facilities for food ingredients, cooked food, equipment and non-food material – storage area, storage procedure for raw materials and cooked food.
- j) Guidelines related to proper food handling, proper hand washing practice, hygiene and sanitation, cleaning of food handling equipment, utensils and other items.
- k) Guidelines related to appropriate cooking process- instructions for high risk foods like sliced fruits and vegetables , confectionary products, meat, poultry and fish products, milk and dairy products, foods with gravy, water based chutneys , sauces, fried foods, food transportation from preparation spot to consumption spots and thawing frozen products.
- l) Guidelines related to proper hygienic food distribution practice while serving food to school children.
- m) Guidelines related to proper infrastructural facility and preparation area to reduce congestion levels and unhygienic food preparation – location of premises, maintenance of floors, walls and ceilings, lighting and ventilation of kitchen area.
- n) Guidelines related to training for food handlers and kitchen staff to reduce mishaps or accident pertaining to food safety.
Stakeholders view
When the guidelines was presented before the stakeholders, they vehemently protested on the term “Junk Food “. Though Junk Food has been well defined in Medical Dictionary as food which is high in calories and low in nutrition, they are of the opinion that the word “Junk” itself has derogatory effect on the consumers. Instead of Junk Food, they prefer to use the term High Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) food.
An expert committee was constituted by the FSSAI to resolve the issue. After a lot of deliberations, expert committee, not unanimously, agreed to accept the term HFSS food instead of Junk food. The final guidelines was placed before the Delhi High Court and the Court directed the FSSAI to notify the guidelines for all concerned.
Draft Regulation of FSSAI
In its draft regulation, the FSSAI said that “foods which are referred to as foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS)cannot be sold to school children in school canteens or mess premises or hostel kitchen or within 50 meters of the school campus. FSSAI had issued draft “Food Safety and Standards (Safe Food and Healthy diets for school children) Regulations, 2019 and posted in its website www. FSSAI.gov.in. FSSAI had sought comments from stakeholders in 30 days. A technical committee will look into these recommendations. FBOs will have to obtain a license or registration as applicable and comply with the requirements of sanitary and hygienic practices specified under the food safety law.
Conclusion
A healthy food make our kids feel better and right eating habits can be engrained in the children from a young age. The regulations fundamental idea is to make it clear what is healthy for children and what is not. Implementation of the regulations is the most important thing, defying the dictates of the big industries as junk food is a growing industry in India.