TEACHERS REFUSE TO BE MEAL MANAGERS TOO- THE BIHAR TRAGEDY AFTERMATH

The chicken has come to roost at last vis-a-vis the food contamination episode in Bihar as more than 300000 teachers across the state have revolted against the State government for the insinuation made by one of the ministers that the incidence was a conspiracy to defame the government! Will any self respecting teacher continue to work any more for the government under such circumstances? After all teachers are forced to undertake management of the feeding program being carried on under most primitive conditions over and above the teaching responsibility for which they are appointed and paid for! The babus and politicians take the credit when any government program is lauded while the blame for any mishap is passed on to the low paid workers like teachers in the present case. With the teachers on the war path what option the so called progressive government now ruling will have to continue the program? Will the school meal program be abandoned as the minister concerned has thrown up his hands in despair? What is most disgusting is the implied insinuation that kids were deliberately poisoned for political gains by the opposition political parties! That means the school teachers have no integrity and humaneness in carrying out the diabolical plan with the support of some politicians to murder 23 kids in broad day light! Here is a take on this latest turn of events in Bihar where the ruling party has no time for development work, spending most of its time in its political maneuver to become a shiny model of secularism in the country, whatever that means!

"A week after the death of 23 children from eating a contaminated mid-day meal in Saran district, teachers are in no mood to assist the government in running the scheme. "It was unanimously decided at a meeting of the Bihar State Primary Teachers' Association to boycott the scheme," its president, Barajnandan Sharma, told IANS. "We had repeatedly requested the government in writing to involve teachers in academic work only and employ some agency for the scheme, which was ignored. Teachers should not be burdened with all kinds of non-academic work," he said. Teachers are blamed for anything that goes wrong with the scheme, Sharma said, adding: "It is giving a bad name to teachers due to rampant corruption." He said that it is a well-known fact that teachers and headmasters have to invariably manage the mid-day meal scheme with third-grade food stuff and corruption at every level. "Top to bottom, officials have information about it. But when something happens, a teacher or headmaster is solely blamed for it despite the fact that there are several officials involved in it," he said. Refering to the Saran tragedy, Sharma said: "There may be some mismanagement. Even human error cannot be ruled out. But putting the blame on teachers even before an inquiry has completed surprised us." In the wake of teachers' decision to boycott the scheme, Bihar Education Minister P.K. Shahi said it was difficult to arrange for an agency to run the scheme in 72,000 schools across the state. "The government does not have the resources to hire an agency for the huge task of serving mid-day meals to 1.60 crore students," Shahi said".

The minister has no business to lament about the helplessness of the government in continuing with the program of feeding 16 million kids every day after making the allegation of sabotage in the poisoning episode. Did he not think about the consequences of his irresponsible uttering about sabotage? If the state government does not have the ability to continue with the program why not stop it right now and think of other alternatives to reward the kids for showing their face in the school. Both the governments at Delhi and in the states will have to bear the responsibility for the latest tragedy because they were cornering all the credits being showered on the country by international agencies for "running" the largest "feeding" program in the world! When will the government of India wake up to the reality that schools are not meant to cook foods and teachers cannot manage such hot food programs without affecting the quality of education? There is no other alternative, whether one likes it or not, to supplying processed packaged foods, ready to eat, prepared by established manufacturers with guaranteed quality and safety. Government of India must wake up to this reality before more such tragedies as that happened in Bihar are repeated over and over again across millions of schools in the country.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

TEACHING KIDS ABOUT FOOD THEY EAT-THE IRISH EXAMPLE

A billion dollar question that begs for an answer is why Americans are "bloating up" at a pace that may soon find mention in "Guinness Book of World Records"! Of course there is no simple answer to this complex question and the policy makers in that country are going in circles to overcome this national disaster. But here is a small country in Europe, Scotland which seems to have realized the reason for people gaining uncontrolled body weight and its conclusion is fairly simple. Gross ignorance of any thing and every thing about foods eaten every day is the root cause of wrong foods consumed beginning from early childhood. These foods are qualitatively poor measured in terms of nutritive and health yardsticks. The remedy being thought of this economically rich country is to invest on education to teach kids more about basic aspects of food including sources, production, processing, safety, nutrition and health information. It is interesting to read the minds of the policy makers who are talking about the changes in the education system that will equip future citizens to be conscious and careful about the food they eat and the way they eat. 

"School pupils are to learn more about the food they eat as part of a £2 million project to improve the nation's diet. A group of experts made up of those from the food industry and the education sector will steer the three-year programme, which will help children understand more about their diets and how food impacts on their health and on the environment. The project, which was announced today by rural affairs secretary Richard Lochhead, will encourage children to visit farms, fishing and food companies to learn more about their health. It will also be made easier for teachers to use food as a topic in Curriculum for Excellence: Mr Lochhead said: "Whether through farm visits, working with local companies or embedding food topics in the curriculum, food education is key to helping young people understand the role food plays in their lives. By encouraging pupils to learn more about these issues they can have the facts they need at their disposal to make informed choices for their future. "It's no secret that Scotland faces issues around the health of our nation and – like every other country – we need to protect our environment and face up to the challenges around climate change. "Food education has an important role to play in this, helping our youngsters make healthier choices and ensuring they are more aware of the importance of eating sustainably. That's why every schoolchild in Scotland will benefit from the food education package announced today."

One redeeming feature of this pro-active policy is to rope in the industry as a partner to transform the perceptions into workable programs at the ground level. Does it not make sense that small kids in early stages of development are more amenable to sensible

suggestions and advice? Why is this not happening in many countries where food is causing immense damage to the populace due to wrong products being manufactured by insensitive industry and wrong choices by the consumers, mostly because of economic factors? Probably such positive things may not happen unless industry cooperates in showcasing their facilities for better understanding by the children. This is happening in Scotland giving the experiment a better chance of success.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

WHAT IS A JUNK FOOD? NO ONE KNOWS!

Can there be a more ridiculous situation than what had happened in the Supreme Court some time back when GOI was quizzed regarding the prevalence of selling junk foods near the school premises? In stead of explaining to the court that the term junk food is an anachronism because all foods provide some calories or nutrients if they are edible. In stead the FSSAI, representing GOI informed the court that it is going to lay standards of safety for the so called "junk foods". Also FSSAI tried to prevaricate on the issue by diverting the attention of the court by fulminating against trans fatty acids which are supposed to be in all junk foods! It is a pity that in stead of agreeing to ban all unhealthy foods in or near educational institutions, this responsibility was shifted to the states most of which have lowest priority for matters connected with consumer safety. HRD Ministry which controls policies related to education must have pitched in by agreeing to bring out guidelines for foods that could be sold to children near the school. Here is a report on this case which was carried by major news agencies recently. 

"Most of the junk foods have high quantity of trans-fatty acids and is low in minerals, vitamins and other essential food nutrients. And, said to be a major reason for obesity among children in schools in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai. The ministry told the court that the authority has constituted a scientific panel to prescribe standards for fatty acid residues, poisonous metals and microbiological parameters in food items including those considered junk food. Once the new standards are prescribed, the ministry has said that its enforcement will be responsibility of the respective state governments. Such (state government) authorities are required to collect samples of food and take action on the findings of the tests reports based on safety parameters and standards prescribed by the authority, the ministry reply to the court said. The food safety law provides the power to the state governments to impose a fine on those selling sub-standard food not adhering to the standards. Despite that action against adulterated or sub-standard has not been of desirable levels. On the bigger question raised in the Public Interest Litigation of Rahul Verma regarding imposing a ban on junk food in schools and educational institutions, the ministry said it was an administrative decision to be taken by respective educational institutions. The ban cannot be imposed under the food safety and standard act of 2006, the ministry said".

While reporting on the Supreme Court proceedings, no one seems to have been bothered by thousands of push carts operating near every school in this country selling cut fruits, ice candy, local sweets etc under most insanitary condition. Why FSSAI chose to highlight dangers of trans fats could have been to exhibit its technical prowess vis-a-vis food safety to the court! Probably it is time stern action is taken against school management if such unhygienic foods are allowed to be sold to students in their schools. Cut fruits are by far the most dangerous source of infectious food borne pathogens and the tender body system of the children is more vulnerable to infections by consuming these fruits and other similar risky food products. Parents also have an obligation towards their wards and the practice of giving hefty pocket money to school going kids spawns many undesirable activities in and near the school.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

"ALLERGIC" CHILDREN-A NEW BURDEN FOR SCHOOLS

Millions of people world over are affected by allergic disorders which in many cases can be fatal if not attended properly. In many cities which are highly polluted children are the victims and it is not unusual to see hospitals in these urban chaos full of children waiting for "Nebulization" for relief and other treatments. Allergies are caused by allergens of different nature entering the body generally through nose, food allergies through ingested foods, allergies caused by latex, insect bite, contact with skin and eye or  allergy or medication. The root cause is an over reaction by the body's immune system to some substances which are broadly called as allergens. 

In a startling report from the US, it was brought out that children with allergies and asthma are vulnerable to allergic reactions for which no protection is being provided in most schools. Considering that the number of affected children is very large running into millions, it is but proper for the US government to enforce a minimum protection regime in every school that can save precious lives. Here is a report on this issue.

"In the United States, asthma and allergies have a major and growing affect on schools.  About 10 percent of kids (7.1 million children) have asthma.  It is the #2 chronic disease among children (behind obesity) and the #1 chronic cause of student absenteeism (10.5 million school days missed annually due to asthma in 2008).  Last year, 185 children died because of asthma.  In addition, severe allergies and anaphylaxis – the most severe type of allergic reaction – are on the rise nationwide, particularly food allergies among children, forcing schools to prepare, manage and react to the problem.  Plus, millions of adult teachers and staff in schools have asthma and allergies, as well. With so many people affected in the school setting, these diseases create a burden on schools and communities, requiring improvements to indoor air quality (IAQ), emergency procedures and prevention training for food allergies, individual health plans for students, notifying parents of pesticide spraying, student access to medications such as epinephrine auto-injectors or albuterol inhalers, campus smoking bans and cessation programs, and more".

Pollution is the price one pays for the so called modern life style without which many families cannot live and it is the duty of the government to legislate properly to improve the environment as much as possible by cutting down pollution. As for food allergy the situation is  much better with allergen information declared on each and every food packet that reaches the consumer from the industry. One wonders what is the fate of many children in some of the poor and developing countries where allergy diagnosis itself is a problem with practically no facility for detection and treatment. Probably this is an area which may become a flash point in future in the health care field.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

FOOD "SHARING" IN SCHOOLS-NOT DESIRABLE?

Life is full of risks and the ingenuity of man lies in fores seeing such risks to the best of his ability. But beyond a certain point being alert does not make much of a sense and it may even become an obsession. Look at a simple incidence of a child bringing some food to the school, sharing it with the friends and some one getting a little bit sick. Who is to be blamed? The parents of the child who brought the food or that ate the shared food or the school? A difficult situation indeed! Some may feel there should be a school policy. Others may insist on a list of ingredients present in the kids' food brought to the school! Why do we want to add to the problems that we face every day by inventing newer ones and wasting time on finding solutions? Here is a unique view by one of the commentators on the issue.

"Now I'm going to say uncomfortable things. People with special cases and special needs should be looking out for their own special cases and special needs. Are you wildly allergic to something? Do your best to avoid it in life. You can't expect everyone to change their lives to accommodate your situation. The people close to you? Sure. Random strangers? Even if they occasionally share a space with you? Sorry, you're really not that special. Your rights do not supersede the rights of the larger group.Life is a crap shoot, something is going to kill you. Maybe it's a tiger, maybe it's a peanut, maybe it's your blood pressure. In any case, Darwin was right".

Concern shown by the parents is understandable because of the wide spread incidences of allergy prevalent amongst children and some one allergic to gluten or peanut or any other allergen can come to grief if exposed in the school during food sharing. Probably it may be wiser for parents having children with serious allergy to notify the school so that the supervising teachers can keep an extra vigil during lunch or snack time. Banning food sharing in schools will be a foolish move as food is known to be a medium for bonding and forging fellowship amongst children.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com