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‘Locally cooked food the best option for children’

CHENNAI: Introducing commercially produced packaged foods in place of locally prepared meals would adversely affect the impact of the Integrated Child Development Services scheme, according to members of the Planning Commission’s Steering Committee on Nutrition.

Its members Jean Dreze, Biraj Patnaik, Vandana Prasad and Veena Shatrugna have voiced their opposition to any departure from the recommendation of provision of nutritious cooked meals under the ICDS, in a letter to Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairperson, Planning Commission. The letter urges the Commission to defend the recommendation in its November 9 meeting against “powerful commercial lobbies that appear to be pushing relentlessly for packaged foods.”

The letter states that nutritious cooked meals based on local foods are “the best means of providing nutrition support to children in the age group of 3-6 years.” Cooked meals also help enhance child attendance at anganwadis, foster egalitarian social norms, provide employment to poor women and act as a form of nutrition education, it added. An argument against the provision of cooked meals is with regard to hygiene.

The letter however argues that the possibility of enabling adequate infrastructure and quality safeguards had been “well demonstrated” from recent experience with mid-day meals, as well as initiatives in States such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Participants at a Planning Commission meeting held on September 13, 2006, had unanimously decided to recommend that “locally procured and prepared cooked food in accordance with local tastes and variations of food menu over the days of the week should be provided under ICDS for children in the age group of 3 to 6.”

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