The tragic deaths of the children of Bihar, who were poisoned through mid-day meals served at their school, sparked shock and grief around the world.  Various media sources have reported that 23 children died and dozens more were hospitalized.  The tragedy has called into question the quality, management and oversight of India’s mid-day meal program.

Recognizing the links between hunger and education, in 2001, the Supreme Court of India directed state governments to provide hot lunches in all government and government-assisted primary schools to ensure that all children had access to education, regardless of economic background.  The program has been successful in increasing school enrollment by 29.53% across the country, especially amongst children of the lowest socio-economic background. Unfortunately, safety and accountability for the program has been lacking in many areas, as the tragedy in Bihar makes clear.

While the incident in Bihar highlights the problems with the program, mid-day meals remain an essential tool in improving access to education and breaking the cycle of poverty for economically vulnerable children.  What the program requires is strong food safety protocols and strict implementation, accountable management, and efficient production and delivery systems.  The good news is that such a program already exists, is growing, and is highly replicable. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of the largest nonprofit-run school meal programs in the world. It is a strategic intervention in education that serves hot, nutritious and hygienic school meals to more than 1.3 million underserved children across India.

What makes the Akshaya Patra program unique is that it was founded on the principles of strong food safety standards, accountable management, efficiency and impact. Established in 2000, the founders created custom technology-intensive kitchens that could produce more than a hundred thousand meals in 5 hours at low cost and with high food safety standards.  Since these kitchens are highly replicable, Akshaya Patra has been able to expand its program from feeding 1,500 children in 2000 to 1.3 million children only 12 years later.  Appropriate technological considerations have governed all phases of design to ensure the safety and hygiene of the meals prepared. Each kitchen has 250 check points and monthly safety audits by quality control officers that cover areas such as personal hygiene, pest control, ingredients procurement, storage, production, and vehicle hygiene practices.  Al l of Akshaya Patra’s kitchens meet the highest standards of safety and efficiency, and ten of Akshaya Patra’s kitchens have already been certified as FSMS ISO 22000:2005 compliant, which means they meet  the standards of the International Food Safety Management System (FSMS).  The International Organization for Standardization established the ISO 22000 certification to ensure the safety of the global food supply chain.

Most encouragingly, Akshaya Patra’s meals are producing real results. Akshaya Patra’s program has been evaluated by numerous independent research firms, including leading market research firm A.C. Nielsen.  The studies found that Akshaya Patra meals have been effective in increasing school enrollment by 28% (especially for girl students), decreasing the drop-out rate by 8%, and improving the health and academic performance of the students.  For many of the children, these are the only meals they receive in a day and the act as a strong incentive for parents to send their children to school.

Akshaya Patra’s unique and innovative model is not patented and the Foundation encourages interested parties to observe and replicate the program.  It is the strong desire of Akshaya Patra that the program be replicated across India and the world to eradicate malnutrition and promote education for underserved children. With the help of others, the Akshaya Patra Foundation hopes that its program can reach millions of other children and that it is done in a way that ensures that the health and well-being of the children is always protected.

If you would like to learn more about Akshaya Patra’s program please visit www.foodforeducation.org.

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