Report: Food Poisoning From Mid-day Meals Has Increased Over the Past Six Years

By: Arshi Qureshi

The number of cases of food poisoning reported in schools across India last year, in 2022, was 979, the highest number in the previous six years.

Since the pandemic restrictions were lifted and the majority of students returned to school, incidences of food poisoning brought on by midday meals have reappeared. Nearly 120 pupils at schools in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar have had food poisoning in the past 90 days, reported The Hindu.

The number of cases of food poisoning reported in schools across India last year, in 2022, was 979, the highest number in the previous six years. 

According to the report published by The Hindu - data indicate that at least 9,646 such cases of food poisoning were reported throughout the course of the previous 13 years.

The states with the highest numbers of instances of food poisoning from eating mid-day meal were Karnataka (1,524), Odisha (1,327), Telangana (1,092), Bihar (950), and Andhra Pradesh (794)

As per the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) report published in August 2022 -  “over 70 students had taken the medicine, out of which 21 fell ill. The 21 students that fell ill - vomited, had stomach aches and also collapsed after having lunch.”

According to the same report, in August at least 12 students at a government school in Bilaspur have become ill after consuming mid-day meals or contaminated water.

Between 2009 and 2022 - 232 instances of food poisoning attributable to midday meals in schools have been reported.

In 2015 - around 223 kids in the Bihar district of Madhubani reported experiencing uneasiness after consuming a mid-day meal. 

247 pupils in 2016 at a Zila Parishad school in a village in the Palghar district of Maharashtra became unwell after eating their midday meal.

 In 2017, 221 pupils in Belgaum, Karnataka reported experiencing nausea and abdominal pain after eating upma as part of their midday meal. 

“In 2015-16, in Madhya Pradesh, the CAG found that around 14,500 schools did not have a kitchen shed for preparing mid-day meals. In 2016, in Arunachal Pradesh, 40% of the schools did not have a shed. In Chhattisgarh, a CAG survey between FY11 and FY15 found that the mid-day meal was cooked in open areas in unhygienic conditions in 8,932 schools,” reported The Hindu.

In the past ten years, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has audited a number of States and has attributed the  subpar standards of mid-day meal preparation to numerous factors such as  inadequate infrastructure, insufficient inspections, irregular licensing, limited reporting.

The enrollment of children in the Mid-Day Meal Program has fallen during 2018-2019, according to data from the program's last few years. The data also shows that in many states in 2018–19, funds were not fully utilised.