Worm in Meal : FDA slaps notice to Akshay Patra, says will suspend license if needed

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Nagpur: A day after worm was found in meals being served at Netaji Market Hindi High School, the Food and Drug Administration has issued improvement notice to the Akshay Patra Foundation, running the mid-day meal scheme and also initiated inspection of the organization, informed S R Kekre, Joint Commissioner (Food) to Nagpur Today.

“The team of FDA inspectors is all set for the inspection procedure at the organization’s Dighori based kitchen. Following this further guidelines will be issued to the firm. We acknowledge the significance of this issue, as the health of the innocent students is at stake,” said Kekre and added, “If we found any irregularity at the kitchen we won’t be hesitating in suspending Akshay Patra’s license.”

It is prominent to mention that, the school principal in a written complaint has alleged that, on July 23 students had found a worm in the mid-day-meal for the first time. Following this the school administrators had contacted Akshay Patra Foundation. The organization then apologized for the glitch and promised to be more cautious in future. However, just after a week, the same incident repeated, exposing severe lax at the end of Akshay Patra.

FDA favours firm!
About previous similar incidents and the worm infected food served by the organization twice within eight days, Kekre said, “We have inspected Akshay Patra’s kitchen in the past and let me tell you it’s well equipped and hygienic. As far as worms are concerned the present environment is ideal for such insects to flourish. However, no one can deny the fact that there has been some negligence from the foundation’s side. Owing to which a cooked worm came to the school. We will guide further instructions as soon as the inspection report arrives.”

By Shubham Nagdeve