Today, Tuesday, April 16, the Indian National Congress (INC) party in Kerala urged the state government to reverse its decision to exempt the mid-day meal scheme from obtaining the mandatory food safety licence. This was stated in a report by PTI.
The Congress termed the order issued by the General Education Department not to conduct quality inspections in schools with regards to mid-day meals as "irresponsible and objectionable".
Raising objections, the opposition party pointed out various incidents of food poisoning reported in the state schools in recent times.
In a letter sent to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, leader of the opposition VD Satheesan said that the order issued late last month stated that children's mid-day meal is not a business venture and so, a food safety licence is not required.
Citing Section 3 of the Union Government's Safe Food and Healthy Diet for School Children Regulation 2020, he said the quality of the food being served to children should be ensured.
The lines of the letter from Satheesan read, "It is the constitutional responsibility of the state government to implement the Central Food Security Act. The decision not to comply with the Central law in the matter of children's mid-day meals is therefore illegal."
Furthermore, he also mentioned that the Chief Minister (CM) needs to intervene. "Therefore, the chief minister should intervene to withdraw the "illegal and anti-people" order and to ensure food safety standards in the distribution of mid-day meals to school children," read the letter.
