National Institute of Nutrition stands by its findings on Midday meals

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition has reiterated that it stands by its assessment of nutritional adequacy of the midday meals supplied by Akshaya Patra Foundation (APF) to the government schools in Karnataka.

It may be noted that the research institution came in for sharp criticism by  activists, academicians and scientists for its assessment report, that the NIN submitted to Karnataka government upon its request, following a controversy over non-usage of onion and garlic by APF in its midday meals and non-provision of egg which is mandated by the government.

The letter pointed out that there were media reports of students vomiting after eating midday meals and questioned as to how NIN commented on food safety without taking samples of food and testing them. In response to the news published in these columns on Tuesday regarding the controversy, the NIN said that it never commented on the safety of midday meals provided by APF in schools.

“All that we said is the kitchens certified by ISO and regularly monitored by FSSAI certainly meet safety standards and the same has been corroborated by the personal accounts of scientists who visited some centralised kitchens of APF. To take out only parts of our report and make comments on them and shooting out letters to all our scientists is clearly an endeavour to create confusion,’’ NIN said.

Regarding the controversy over non-usage of onion and garlic by APF, NIN said that while bio-availability of nutrients definitely increases with addition of vegetables, every vegetable cannot be looked into isolation.

It pointed out that while a study by CFTRI showed an increase in bioavailability of iron and zinc when compared to plain rice without onion and garlic, studies conducted in Taiwan reported that onion and garlic inhibit iron absorption in a rice-based meal.

Pointing out the contrast, NIN said, “Therefore, looking at each vegetable or compound in isolation and implicating it to the overall nutritional quality of the composite meal is not justifiable. NIN has no hesitation in saying that most vegetables/fruits improve bio-availability of micronutrients and hence can be used interchangeably,” it said.