Salim Javed&Vikramaditya
Port Blair, Oct 17: Following news published by Andaman Sheekha Daily on 15 October 2022 issue, regarding some children of Padmanabapuram region complained about Diarrhea as well as vomiting and doubts over quality of rice being supplied to various schools by Civil Supplies Department, a team of officials from Civil Supplies reached Middle School Padmanabapuram on 15 October 2022 to investigate whether there was any issue with the rice supplied for Mid-Day meal.
Andaman Sheekha report had earlier clearly mentioned in the news article that there was no direct evidence of children falling sick due to Mid-Day meals.
The report also mentioned that without proper tests this will be unfair to blame School authorities or Civil Supplies for any mismanagement in this regard.
During the visit the officials of Supplies to the Middle School Padmanabapuram, they explained that rice content which many people had mistaken as “plastic rice” are actually fortified rice, which is nothing but added mineral contents like Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 and Iron. These substances are known as FRKs (Fortified Rice Kernels), which are micronutrients added to regular rice.
The Food Inspectors explained that according to FSSAI, 1 KG of fortified rice contains 28 to 42 mg of iron, 75 to 125 microgram of folic acid and 0.75 to 1.25 microgram of Vitamin B-12 which is mixed in 100 kg of regular rice in the ratio of 1:100.
The officials clarified that there is nothing to panic in this issue and people shouldn’t spread wrong information in society.
The matter came to light after the Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Shivapuram Mr. Venkateshwar Rao issued a press statement to Andaman Sheekha saying that some children of the region are falling sick and having health issue Diarrhea and Vomiting.
Following this he had visited the Padmanabapuram School to check the condition of rice used for Mid-Day meals.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha Daily the Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Shivapuram Mr. Venkateshwar Rao on Sunday said that after issue raised by him some officials of food safety and civil supplies visited the Padmanabapuram School and clarified the entire issue to Parents, PRI members and teachers.
“Till now even ground staffs, dealing with mid-day meals, were unaware of the fact that fortified rice is being supplied to the schools and the unknown particles present with rice, are added nutrients. I was informed that as Mid-Day meal staffs had no knowledge about fortified rice, they were segregating the added minerals from ordinary rice just to be on the safe side,” he added.
The Pradhan said that during Saturday’s visit of Civil Supplies staff the matter has now become clear.
He also said that a few children of the region, who had complained about Diarrhea and vomiting, had reached hospital from their respective home but when the matter of presence of unknown substance in rice used for mid-day meal came in the knowledge of parents, they thought the cause of such health issue was mid-day meal and they raised alarm.
The officials of Civil Supplies/ Food Safety also assured the gathering that from now on they will inform all schools about this fortified rice so that there is no confusion among Mid-Day meal staffs, teachers and parents.
It is learnt that after the visit of Staffs of Civil Supplies a team of Food Safety had also visited the school.
