Quality food to be served to students under Midday Meal

Mangalagiri: The state government is spending Rs 2,000 crore on Dokka Sitamma Midday Meal scheme for the school children, said secretary of school education Kona Sasidhar after inaugurating the one-day workshop on the standardisation of midday meal scheme here on Monday.

Keeping in view the food habits of children in the three different regions across the state, it has been decided to include the locally produced vegetables in the midday meal.

J Srinivas from National Institute of Nutrition said that both education and nutrition are important for students. Food Future Foundation representative and retired IAS Pravin Agarwal said that it was a good idea to use locally produced vegetables.

Guntur district collector S Nagalakshmi, Intermediate education commissioner Kritika Shukla, Midday meal scheme director B Srinviasa Rao, Food Science and Nutritionist Dr K Lakshmi, UNICEF field officer Resha Desai, great grandson of Dokka Sitamma Kameswara Rao, Joint food controller Purnachandra Rao, additional director G Gangabhavani, and other officials participated.

Exhibition stalls on the changed menu for the midday meal were arranged on the venue. The food served in various districts was put on display.