Parliament Question: Food Poisoning in Residential Schools in Nagarkurnool

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO – 3858 ANSWERED ON 16/03/2026 Food Poisoning in Residential Schools in Nagarkurnool 3858. Dr. Mallu Ravi: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has investigated recent food poisoning and skin infection incidents in social welfare residential schools at Nagarkurnool in Telangana, if so, the details thereof; (b) the number of affected children and remedial measures implemented; and (c) whether sanitation, hygiene audits and safe food protocols are monitored at the Central level, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a) to (c): Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme is implemented in partnership with States/ UTs for providing one hot cooked and nutritious meal to children studying in Balvatika (just before class I) and the classes I to VIII of Government and Government-aided schools on all school working days. The overall responsibility for smooth functioning of the scheme including providing hot cooked and nutritious meal to the eligible children and day-to-day administration lies with the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations. 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, provide instructions to schools to procure Agmark quality and branded items for preparation of meals, training to Cook-cum-Helpers, tasting of meals by members ofSchool 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 provide, inter- alia, 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 the 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. As informed by the State Government of Telangana, no such incident happened in Telangana Government Social Welfare Residential (TGSWR) Institutions in Nagarkurnool District of Telangana. Further, School Education Department of State Government of Telangana has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for cooking and serving food in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) and Girls hostels, which are under their administrative control. *****