Lok Sabha Question No. 2593 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-09
Subject: Data on Contamination of Food under PM POSHAN Scheme
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Rajesh Ranjan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO2593

ANSWERED ON- 09.03.2026

## Data on Contamination of Food under PM POSHAN Scheme

†2593. Shri Rajesh Ranjan:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  maintains  national-level  data  on  incidents  of  illness  caused  by contamination under the PM POSHAN Scheme during the last five years, if so, the details thereof, State/Union Territory-wise;

(b) the details of the monitoring, inspection and audit mechanisms established by the Government to ensure food safety and hygiene under the Scheme in the country;

(c) whether any assessment has been made regarding shortcomings in the implementation of food safety  and  hygiene  guidelines  issued  under  the  PM  POSHAN  Scheme  in  the  country,  if  so,  the details thereof;

(d)  the  details  of  the  corrective  measures  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  to strengthen real-time monitoring, quality checks and accountability  mechanisms  under  PM POSHAN in the country; and

(e) the timelines and targets set to strengthen the food safety and grievance redressal system under PM POSHAN?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (e): During the last 5 years a total of eleven (11) incidents of contaminated food have been reported under PM POSHAN Scheme including 3 in Bihar (2024), 2 in Delhi (2023), 2 in Odisha  (2022,  2024),  2  in  Rajasthan  (2025),  1  in  Uttar  Pradesh  (2021)  and  1  in  West  Bengal (2023).

Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme is one of the foremost rights based  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  implemented  in  partnership  with  the  States  and  Union Territories (UTs) for providing one hot cooked and nutritious meal to all children studying in Bal Vatika  (just  before  class-I)  and  classes  I  to  VIII  of  Government  and  Government-aided  schools. The Scheme covers about 11 crore children in more than 10.35 lakh schools in all the States/ UTs. The overall responsibility for providing hot cooked and nutritious meal to the eligible children lies with the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations

The Government of India has issued detailed guidelines on quality, safety and hygiene to ensure serving of good quality nutritious meal under the Scheme.  All the States/ UTs are advised to adhere to these Guidelines. These guidelines are available on official website https://pmposhan.education.gov.in. These guidelines, inter-alia, provides for instructions to schools to procure Agmark quality and branded items for preparation of meals, training to Cookcum-Helpers, tasting of  meals by members of School Management Committee including at least one teacher before serving the hot meal to children. Further, it provides for testing of food samples by Government Food Research Laboratory or any laboratory accredited or recognized by law to ensure that the meals meet nutritional standards and quality. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is given  responsibility  for  making  available  food  grains  of  best  available  quality,  meeting  the parameters  of  Fair  Average  Quality  (FAQ).  The  Guidelines,  inter-alia,  provides  for  training  of Cook-cum-Helpers on nutrition, cooking processes, health and hygiene, preparation of raw grains and vegetables, recipes, serving skills etc. States/ UTs provide training to CCHs in collaboration with  Institutes  of  Hotel  Management,  Food  Craft  Institutes,  FSSAI,  State  Universities  etc.  Many States/ UTs conduct Cooking Competitions and also give cash prizes to the winners to encourage them  to  cook  varied  and  nutritious  meals.  The  States  and  UTs  are  encouraged  to  decide  menu suitable  to  the  local  conditions  within  the  prescribed  nutrition  and  food  norms  and  to  procure locally grown food items like millets, vegetables, condiments etc. The guidelines also envisage for all children in the school to wash their hands with soap.

As per the extant guidelines of the PM Poshan Scheme States/UTs are required to conduct Social Audit in all districts in at least 20 schools or 2% of the schools, whichever is higher for each district. The responsibility for taking action and ensuring compliance on the Social Audit findings rests  with  the  State/  UTs.  States/  UTs  have  conducted  social  audits  in  32,664  schools  across  the country. Further, the States/ UTs through their designated officials have conducted inspections in 9.78 lakh schools. The State/ UTs have conducted 25,389 testing of meals across the country.

The  scheme  also  provides  elaborate  monitoring  mechanism  i.e.  Empowered  Committee under  the  Chairpersonship  of  Hon'ble  Union  Education  Minister,  Programme  Approval  Board (PAB) under the Chairpersonship of Secretary (DoSE&L),  State Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of Chief Secretary, District level Steering-cum- Monitoring Committee under the Chairpersonship of District Collector. The PM Poshan Guidelines provides a District Level Committee under the Chairmanship of senior most Member of Parliament (MP) of the district to monitor the scheme on quarterly basis.

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