The
Akshaya Patra Foundation is a NGO in India that provides the daily,
nutritious mid day meal programme to
over 1.4 million children across India every day. Through this programme the
Foundation aims to eliminate classroom hunger in the country. With 24 kitchen
units spread out over 10 states of India, reaching out to 10,770 schools, the
Foundation is working to realise its vision that ‘No child in India shall be
deprived of education because of hunger.’ Having achieved great progress over
the past 15 years since its inception, the organisation has now shifted its
focus towards achieving its mission of reaching out to 5 million children by
the year 2020. The organisation started with feeding just 1,500 children across
5 schools in Bengaluru (Karnataka, India) in the year 2000. This exponential
increase in scale has come about due to the sustainable practices the organisation
has incorporated into implementing its programme, as well as the staunch
support of the Government of India, corporates and private donors.
Maintaining
quality above all else has been a huge priority for this NGO in India.
Therefore Akshaya Patra implements Food
Safety Management Systems in all its kitchens to ensure the food is
absolutely safe for human consumption. In adherence to this, 10 of the kitchens
supplying for the mid day meal programme have been ISO 22000: 2005 certified
while the rest are in the process of getting certified. Besides this, the
kitchens implement other safety and hygiene measures such as ensuring that all
the staff maintains good personal hygiene like washing hands and taking daily
showers. The staffs working in the kitchen wears uniforms as well as other
preventive gear like face masks, hair caps, gloves and gumboots to prevent
contaminating the food in any way. On top of this, hygiene charts are placed
prominently around the kitchen to educate and inform on good hygiene practices.
Even
after the food is cooked for the mid day meal programme, safety measures are
strictly followed at Akshaya Patra. This NGO in India has custom designed meal
delivery vehicles to transport the food safely to the beneficiary schools.
These vehicles are fitted with a honeycomb structure that prevents the food
from spilling during transportation, as well as a puffed body which insulates
the van and maintains the proper temperature of the food till delivery. Before
any food is packed into the vehicle, the vans are also sterilised with steam to
keep the food safe for consumption. In testimony to the excellent food safety
practices followed at the kitchen, the Foundation has been the recipient of
food safety awards like the coveted CII National award for Food Safety in the
year 2013 and 2014!
This
Foundation has been safely serving nutritious, tasty food to underserved
children all across India for the past 15 years. However in order to provide
food for education to every hungry child, more needs to be done. Donate to Akshaya Patra to help the children.
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The
Akshaya Patra Foundation is an NGO in India works to eliminate classroom hunger
through its mid-day meal programme Akshaya Patra reaches out to over 1.4 million children a
day.
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