**Executive Summary**
This document is an answer to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha regarding contaminated food under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (PM POSHAN Scheme). The response, dated December 1, 2025, outlines the measures taken by the Government of India to ensure food quality, safety, and hygiene under the scheme, which provides hot cooked meals to children in government and government-aided schools. The document also acknowledges incidents of contaminated food and the actions taken.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Scheme Overview**:
* Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme provides hot cooked meals to children in Bal Vatika and classes I to VIII in government and government-aided schools.
* The scheme covers approximately 11 crore children across more than 10.35 lakh schools.
* The overall responsibility lies with State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.
* For FY 2025-26, the budget allocation is Rs. 12,500 crore from the Government of India and approximately Rs. 8,500 crore from State/UT shares.
* Foodgrain allocation is 24.15 lakh MTs (approximately Rs. 9000 crore).
* **Quality and Hygiene Guidelines**:
* Detailed guidelines on quality, safety, and hygiene have been issued and are available on the official website.
* Schools are instructed to procure Agmark quality and branded items.
* Training is provided to Cook-cum-Helpers.
* Meals are tasted by School Management Committee members, including a teacher, before serving.
* Food samples are tested by accredited laboratories.
* The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is responsible for providing the best quality food grains.
* **Training and Menu**:
* Cook-cum-Helpers receive training on nutrition, cooking, health, and hygiene.
* States/UTs are encouraged to decide on a menu based on local conditions and procure locally grown items.
* All children should wash their hands with soap.
* **Community Mobilization and Awareness**:
* States/UTs celebrate POSHAN Maah/POSHAN Pakhwada with community mobilization activities.
* Schools undertake activities such as School Management Committee (SMC) meetings and awareness campaigns on nutrition and hygiene.
* **Infrastructure and Flexibility**:
* The scheme provides funds for construction and repair of Kitchen-cum-Stores (KCS).
* 5% of the recurring budget can be used as a flexi component for setting up School Nutrition Gardens (SNGs) and providing Supplementary Nutrition.
* **Social Audit**:
* States/UTs are required to conduct Social Audits in at least 20 schools or 2% of schools in each district, whichever is higher.
* States/UTs are responsible for action on Social Audit findings.
* **Monitoring Mechanism**:
* Empowered Committee under the Chairpersonship of Hon'ble Union Education Minister.
* Programme Approval Board (PAB) under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (DoSE&L).
* State Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of Chief Secretary.
* District level Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of District Collector.
* District Level Committee under the Chairmanship of senior most Member of Parliament (MP) of the district to monitor the scheme on quarterly basis.
* **Incidents of Contamination**:
* Eleven incidents of contaminated food have been reported in the last 5 years.
* 674 children were reported ill and treated/discharged from the hospital.
**Impact Analysis**
**Stakeholder: State Governments and Union Territory Administrations**
**Impact**
Responsible for the overall provision of hot cooked and nutritious meals to eligible children.
**Action Required**
Adhere to the guidelines issued by the Government of India regarding quality, safety, and hygiene. Conduct Social Audits, take action on the audit findings, and ensure proper monitoring of the scheme.
**Stakeholder: Schools and School Management Committees**
**Impact**
Responsible for procuring quality ingredients, preparing and serving meals, and maintaining hygiene standards.
**Action Required**
Procure Agmark quality items, train Cook-cum-Helpers, taste meals before serving, and conduct School Management Committee meetings to promote nutrition and hygiene.
**Stakeholder: Cook-cum-Helpers**
**Impact**
Responsible for preparing meals.
**Action Required**
Undergo training to enhance skills in nutrition, cooking processes, health, and hygiene.
**Stakeholder: Children in Government and Government-aided Schools**
**Impact**
Beneficiaries of the hot cooked and nutritious meals provided under the scheme.
**Action Required**
Wash hands with soap before consuming the meals.
**Stakeholder: Food Corporation of India (FCI)**
**Impact**
Responsible for providing best available quality food grains
**Action Required**
Ensure food grains meet the parameters of Fair Average Quality (FAQ).
Key Entities Referenced
Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme: A Centrally Sponsored Scheme to provide hot cooked meals to children in schools.
Ministry of Education: The central government ministry responsible for administering the PM POSHAN Scheme.
States/Union Territories: The subnational entities implementing the PM POSHAN Scheme in partnership with the central government.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-10
ANSWERED ON- 01/12/2025
Contaminated Food under Mid-Day Meal Scheme
†10. Shri Rakesh Rathor:
Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government is aware that several incidents of contaminated food being served
in schools under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme have been reported in recent years across
the country which have seriously impacted the health of children and staff;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the number of children affected as a result of such contaminated
food, State/UT-wise;
(c) the details of effective steps taken by the Government to monitor the storage, preparation
and distribution of food across the country during the last three years;
(d) whether there is any proposal to implement new guidelines to ensure food hygiene and
quality as well as transparency in budget utilization; and
(e) if so, the details thereof along with the measures taken by the Government for better
implementation in the regard and if not, the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
(SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)
(a) to (e): Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme is one of the
foremost rights based Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented in partnership with the States
and Union Territories (UTs) for providing one hot cooked and nutritious meal to all children
studying in Bal Vatika (just before class-I) and classes I to VIII of Government and
Government-aided schools. The Scheme covers about 11 crore children in more than 10.35
lakh schools in all the States/ UTs. The overall responsibility for providing hot cooked and
nutritious meal to the eligible children lies with the State Governments and Union Territory
Administrations. For FY 2025-26, budget allocation for the PM Poshan Scheme is Rs. 12,500
crore by Government of India and the State/ UT share as per the sharing pattern is around Rs.
8,500 crore including additional funds for Honorarium to Cook-cum-Helpers andSupplementary Nutrition items. The foodgrain allocation by Government of India is 24.15 lakh
MTs which costs around Rs. 9000 crore. Thus overall allocation for the PM Poshan Scheme
for FY 2025-26 is more than Rs. 30,000 crore including more than Rs. 21,500 crore made by
Government of India.
The Government of India has issued detailed guidelines on quality, safety and hygiene
to ensure serving of good quality nutritious meal under the Scheme. All the States/ UTs are
advised to adhere to these Guidelines. These guidelines are available on official
website https://pmposhan.education.gov.in. These guidelines, inter-alia, provides for
instructions to schools to procure Agmark quality and branded items for preparation of meals,
training to Cook-cum-Helpers, tasting of meals by members of School Management
Committee including at least one teacher before serving the hot meal to children. Further, it
provides for testing of food samples by Government Food Research Laboratory or any
laboratory accredited or recognized by law to ensure that the meals meet nutritional standards
and quality. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is given responsibility for making available
food grains of best available quality, meeting the parameters of Fair Average Quality (FAQ).
The Guidelines, inter-alia, provides for training of Cook-cum-Helpers on nutrition, cooking
processes, health and hygiene, preparation of raw grains and vegetables, recipes, serving skills
etc. States/ UTs provide training to CCHs in collaboration with Institutes of Hotel
Management, Food Craft Institutes, FSSAI, State Universities etc. Many States/ UTs conduct
Cooking Competitions and also give cash prizes to the winners to encourage them to cook
varied and nutritious meals. The States and UTs are encouraged to decide menu suitable to the
local conditions within the prescribed nutrition and food norms and to procure locally grown
food items like millets, vegetables, condiments etc. The guidelines also envisage for all
children in the school to wash their hands with soap.
POSHAN Maah/ POSHAN Pakhwada is celebrated by States and UTs facilitating
community mobilisation and ensuring schools undertake meaningful activities such as special
School Management Committee (SMC) meetings, awareness campaigns on nutrition and
hygiene. Various other activities such as quiz, painting competition, rally, nukkad natak for
disseminating the information on use of millets, handwash, balance diet and importance of
green leafy vegetables etc. are also organized at school level.
The Scheme guidelines provide for construction and repair of Kitchen-cum-Stores
(KCS). Funds for construction and repair of KCS are released to States/ UTs based on the
proposal received from the State Governments and UTs. There is a provision of 5% of total
recurring budget as the flexi component to be used by the States/UTs for setting up of School
Nutrition Gardens (SNGs) and provision of Supplementary Nutrition interventions in identified
districts. Many States/UTs provide additional supplementary nutrition interventions like egg,
milk, chikki, fresh fruits, chicken, ragi malt etc.
As per the extant guidelines of the PM Poshan Scheme States/UTs are required to
conduct Social Audit in all districts in at least 20 schools or 2% of the schools, whichever is
higher for each district. The responsibility for taking action and ensuring compliance on the
Social Audit findings rests with the State/ UTs. States/ UTs have conducted social audits in32,664 schools across the country. Further, the States/ UTs through their designated officials
have conducted inspections in 9.78 lakh schools. The State/ UTs have conducted 25,389 testing
of meals across the country.
The scheme also provides elaborate monitoring mechanism i.e. Empowered Committee
under the Chairpersonship of Hon’ble Union Education Minister, Programme Approval Board
(PAB) under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (DoSE&L), State Steering-cum-Monitoring
Committee under the Chairpersonship of Chief Secretary, District level Steering-cum-
Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of District Collector. The PM Poshan
Guidelines provides a District Level Committee under the Chairmanship of senior most
Member of Parliament (MP) of the district to monitor the scheme on quarterly basis.
During the last 5 years a total of eleven (11) incidents of contaminated food have been
reported under PM POSHAN Scheme including 3 in Bihar (2024), 2 in Delhi (2023), 2 in
Odisha (2022, 2024), 2 in Rajasthan (2025), 1 in Uttar Pradesh (2021) and 1 in West Bengal
(2023). 674 children were reported ill during these incidents and all the students were treated
and discharged from hospital.
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