The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Nutrition, hygiene training for school noon meal organisers, employees

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 06, 2006
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Nutrition, hygiene training for school noon meal organisers, employees

Meera Srinivasan

Chennai Corporation launches initiative to ensure that children get healthy meals Chennai Corporation launches initiative to ensure that children get healthy meals

— PHOTO: S.THANTHONI

SPREADING AWARENESS: Students of WCC explain safe cooking practices to noon meal staff at the Corporation Middle School in Nungambakkam on Wednesday.

CHENNAI : Nearly 750 noon meal organisers, cooks and helpers in Corporation schools will undergo training on the nutritional and safety aspects of cooking.

The programme, which began on Tuesday, will on go till October 30.

The Chennai Corporation has roped in the services of Women's Christian College (WCC) students and Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), a city-based non-governmental organisation, for the programme.

"The initiative is to increase awareness about nutrition and hygiene among noon meal staff," said Sandhya Venugopal Sharma, Joint Commissioner (Education), Chennai Corporation.

The training will focus on practices to ensure maximum retention of nutrition, besides covering safe, hygienic and effective methods of cooking.

The training programme, to be held across 10 zones, will be conducted for two days at each zone. Each noon meal centre has an organiser in-charge of stock, a cook and a helper.

Depending upon the strength of the school, additional helpers may be appointed.

Five modules titled `basic nutrition', `food safety', `hygiene and sanitation,' `personal hygiene' and `food handling practices' have been designed.

"We explain the nutritional pyramid and tell them the importance of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals in our diet," said D. Estherlydia, a postgraduate student of Food Service Management and Dietetics at WCC.

"They are also taught how vegetables ought to be stored, preserved, cleaned and cooked without loss of nutritional value," said R. Devi of WCC. She explained in detail how spinach had to be cleaned before it was cooked.

Govindamma, who has been serving as a cook for the past 24 years, said the programme had useful insights on aspects of hygiene and nutrition. "We can now make sure that the food served is healthier," she said.

"About six million children are covered in the State's Noon Meal Scheme. However, awareness is relatively low. The Corporation has taken special interested and initiated this programme to make sure that children eat nutritious meals at school," CAG programme officer Kavitha Krishnakumar said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu