5 Food Hygiene and Safety Principles Followed By Akshaya Patra

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is a mid-day meal NGO in India headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The Foundation has been in the service of children since its inception in 2000. With a vision, “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger”, the Foundation strives to provide freshly cooked, wholesome, and tasty meals to school going children. Currently, Akshaya Patra provides mid-day meals to more than 17-lakh children on each school day and it aims to feed 5 million children by 2020.

As they say, the greater the expanse of work, greater is the responsibility. And, it is evident in Akshaya Patra’s field of service. The Foundation makes use of the centralised kitchen concept to serve meals in urban and semi-urban areas, and the decentralised kitchen concept to provide meals in remote areas. Preparing and serving lakhs of meals every day is not an easy task and to serve hygienic and clean food requires utmost diligence and commitment. Thus, to ensure that children receive hygienic and safe food each time, this  NGO in India follows several measures during each stage of production – pre-production, production, and post production. Here are five principle hygiene and safety measures followed by each kitchen of Akshaya Patra irrespective of being centralised kitchen concept or decentralised model:

Quality assurance of raw materials: The Supplier Quality Management System incorporating factors such as Supplier Selection, Supplier Qualification, Supplier Rating etc. is adhered to at each kitchen to ensure procurement of the right and the best quality raw material. The raw materials are accepted only after thorough quality inspection to confirm it meets the Foundation’s raw material specifications that has been adapted from Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.

Storage and handling: Perishable raw materials like vegetables are either procured daily or stored in cold storage. Dry raw materials are stored in dedicated storage rooms. To ensure use of fresh raw materials, all the kitchens follow the FIFO (First In First Out) and FEFO (First Expiry First Out) methods while issuing raw materials for production.

Sanitisation: All raw materials are thoroughly washed and cleaned with potable water. The kitchen equipment and cleaned before and after use and are sterilised using steam.

Protective gears: All kitchen employees mandatorily follow hygiene practices like hand washing and sanitisation and make use of protective gears such as masks, gloves, boots etc.

Food packing and transportation: The cooked food is packed in insulated vessels and are transported to schools in customised insulated vehicles. The insulated vessels and vehicles retain temperature and ensure meals remain fresh till it is consumed by children.

With the reputation of being considered as the top NGO in India, Akshaya Patra is well-aware of its purpose and responsibility towards lakhs of children it feeds each day. Hence, it also undertakes various improvement processes to enhance its operations, efficiency, productivity, and certainly hygiene and safety.

All you need to know about Akshaya Patra's Anganwadi Feeding Programme

The Anganwadi programme is an initiative of the Government of India to facilitate mother and child care across the country. Currently, there are 14-lakh approved AWCs and 7,076 ICDS Projects across the country (as per Government press release, 7 February 2014). To further the efforts of government and extend the benefits of Anganwadi programme, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO for children.

Primarily, Akshaya Patra is an implementing arm of the Government’s Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Every school day the Foundation serves freshly cooked wholesome school lunch to more than 17-lakh children in 36 locations across 12 states of the country. It strives to support education of children by providing nutritious meals to them at school. However, aside from this core programme, Akshaya Patra has also undertaken several other feeding and social initiatives, the Anganwadi feeding programme being one of them.

Here is a quick overview of the Akshaya Patra’s Anganwadi feeding programme:

• By implementing this programme Akshaya Patra aims to provide nutritious meals to children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers of Anganwadi centres;
• Presently, Akshaya Patra is serving nutritious meals at 4,786 Anganwadi centres in nine locations of five states – Hyderabad, Jaipur, Baran, Vadodara, Surat, Ahmedabad, Vrindavan, Narsingi, and Warangal;
• The NGO has a beneficiary base of 1,61,410 young children and 6,410 pregnant and lactating women;
• Akshaya Patra carries out the Anganwadi food supply by preparing meals in their centralised kitchens that deliver it to the centres in their customised meal delivery vehicles;
• The cost incurred to provide meals to one beneficiary for one year is Rs. 675.

By providing food in Anganwadi centres this NGO is aiding one of the main services of the Anganwadi centres i.e. nutrition and health. The Foundation has witnessed tangible change among the beneficiaries and strives to expand this programme to other locations too.

However, to do so, it requires support from the entire community because only when community, government, and NGOs work together, the necessary changes can be achieved. So, support Akshaya Patra by opting to contribute online donations for NGO. Your contribution will ensure nutrition-rich diet for millions of young children and will provide the needed nourishment for expecting and lactating mothers.

Best Charity to Raise Fund on Your Special Days

Special days such as birthday, anniversary, house-warming, wedding etc. calls for a special celebration. And, more often than not, we engage in partying, feasting, holidaying, and gifting. But, have you ever taken a moment to ponder if you can celebrate your special days in a way that can transform lives? Read on to see how you can make your celebrations more special.

Call it generosity, thoughtfulness, or care – offering charity on special days reflects the humanitarian trait in you. It also adds goodwill into your lives and lets you evolve as a better human. All NGOs – big or small – encourages acts of charity and has a dedicated platform to engage people in their respective causes. In line with this, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, an NGO for children has provided several opportunities for people to get involved with their cause of providing food to children. This is an Indian NGO with a credible record of 18 years in implementing the Mid-Day Meal Scheme across the country. With the vision, ‘No child in India shall be deprived of education because of hunger’, this NGO presently provides freshly cooked, nutritious, and tasty meals to more than 1.7 million children studying in government schools across 12 states.

Among the many choices provided by the Foundation to get involved with their cause, charity fundraising on your special days gives you a chance to make your celebrations more meaningful and special. You can celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, house-warming ceremonies, weddings, professional success, festivals, or just about any special day close to your heart by offering charity to this Foundation that is considered as one of the top NGOs in India. Your contribution will be utilised to provide school lunch to millions of children. In fact, by contributing just Rs. 1,100 you will be able to provide food for one child for an entire school year. Now, isn’t that worth a spend?

Time and again, Akshaya Patra also runs various campaigns to create awareness and raise funds for their cause, another avenue for you to fund raise and mark your special days. The Back to School Campaign is one of the on-going campaign of The Foundation aimed at raising funds to provide meals to children for a new academic year because more often than not, the school meal is the reason parents send their children to school.

As a wrap, do think of charity fundraising for Akshaya Patra as an option to celebrate your special days. Your noble choice will provide food to children, support their education, and transform their lives. Not to forget, it will add goodwill in your life and wholesomely treat the humanitarian trait in you!

How Children in Gujarat Benefit from Mid-Day Meal Scheme?

Gujarat is the second state after Tamil Nadu to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme across government schools. This Scheme makes the provision to provide freshly cooked meals to children of government and government-aided schools on every school day, completely free of cost. The chief objectives of this scheme are to address classroom hunger, malnutrition, and support education of children. In order to maximise the reach, the government has partnered with NGOs to implement the Scheme. The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of the mid-day meal NGOs that has been serving nutritious meals to children since 2000. The Foundation currently provides healthy and tasty meals to 1.7 million children across 12 states of India.

Remaining specific, Akshaya Patra started serving mid-day meal in Gujarat in 2009 by establishing its centralised kitchen in Vadodara. Presently, Akshaya Patra operates five centralised kitchens in the state - Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Surat, and Kalol. The kitchens in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Surat are ISO 22000:2005 certified facilities whereas the kitchens in Bhavnagar and Kalol are in the process of certification; thereby testifying the Akshaya Patra’s utmost priority towards cleanliness, hygiene, and other obligatory operational aspects in carrying out the mid-day meal programme effectively and efficiently.

Across all operational locations, Akshaya Patra follows a locally palatable menu so that every child consumes the mid-day meal readily and enjoys it completely. So, as an NGO in Ahmedabad, Akshaya Patra’s meal menu is designed around Gujarati palate such as:

Peas pulao, kabuli chana pulao, vegetable pulao, groundnut jeera pulao, soya chunks pulao, lauki khichdi, jeera rice, plain rice, soya dal, chana dal, dal fry, mixed dal, roti, thepla with til and mix vegetables, thepla with potato, thepla with louki, mix vegetable curry, mixed vegetable with desi chana, and dal dhokli.

In addition, to make this meal more nutritious, Akshaya Patra recently started fortified rice feeding in Ahmedabad benefitting 1,15,578 school in 522 schools. Aside from providing mid-day meal in Gujarat, Akshaya Patra is also involved in providing meals at Anganwadi centres in three locations – Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara nourishing and impacting 44,895 children.

Over the years, it has been observed that the mid-day meal has been instrumental in countering classroom hunger and supporting education of children.

This impact has been acceded by teachers and headmasters too. For instance, Ismail Malik, Principal, Antti Kumar Prathamik Shala, Padra Taluk, Vadodara, Gujarat said, "The mid-day meal has brought a tremendous decline in the student drop-out rate. In the primary school, the increase in attendance is nearly as high as 60% to 70%. The numerous awards that now decorate the school office are a testimony to this."

Currently, Akshaya Patra is providing nutritious meals to 4,07,452 children in 1,621 government schools across the state. However, the Foundation wants to extend the benefits of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme to more and more children.
And, it is possible only with your support. Choose to donate to charity because your contribution will transform the lives of millions of children in a healthy and sustainable way.

How Children in Telangana Benefit from Akshaya Patra

Telangana is a promising state showing steady progress in the economic front. However, the state faces a significant discrepancy in its literacy rate. On one hand, Hyderabad records an 83.2% literacy rate, and on the other hand, Jogulamba Gadwal district is struggling with 49.9% literacy rate. It has been reported that the state has an average of 66.54% literacy rate and 26 districts out of a total of 31 districts has literacy rates below the state average. Along with government’s efforts to improve the literacy rate, The Akshaya Patra Foundation is also adding in its efforts to bring children to school by providing healthy and tasty school lunch.

Akshaya Patra in Telangana

Akshaya Patra is an NGO in Telangana serving school midday meal to children in government schools of the state. Akshaya Patra has been operational in Telangana since 2008 and currently operates in four locations namely Hyderabad, Narsingi, Kothagudem, and Kandi. The NGO provides freshly cooked meals to 91,675 children studying in 805 government schools. The Foundation recently inaugurated its largest mechanised centralised kitchen in Kandi with state-of-the-art technology. This kitchen is also the largest amongst all the Akshaya Patra kitchens and the construction of it has been funded by the Infosys Foundation

The beneficiaries of this NGO in Telangana a variety of items as part of the school meal such as rice, lemon rice, sambar (a mixed vegetable and lentil curry), sundal (a South Indian dish, a dry legume-lentil preparation spiced, tempered, along with fresh coconut), pappu (a type of South Indian lentil curry), tomato pappu, vegetable biryani (a popular rice dish), and vegetable korma (an Indian dish made with vegetables and yogurt). 

Let us hear what the beneficiaries have to say of the mid-day meal in Telangana.

Monica Devi, a 15-year old girl studying in Zilla Parishad High School, who belongs to a broken family says, "I am very fond of the meal provided by Akshaya Patra and potato-brinjal curry is my all-time favourite."  "Just before lunch, my friends and I can’t stop thinking about the meal," she adds.

Read more about Monica at: This Akshaya Patra Beneficiary is a True Victor

Venu, a 5th standard student whose parents are daily wage earners says, "My favourite is the aloo biryani served on every Thursday." “My friends and I make sure we don’t miss school on Thursday because of the biryani,” adds Venu.

Read more about Venu at: Exploring more with a language

Soujanya, an 8th standard beneficiary is a class topper whose parents are daily-wage labourers. She says, “I’m lucky to have the Akshaya Patra meals. It is nutritious and tasty. It helps me concentrate in class” She further adds, "I am fond of the fruits and loves the biryani served." 

Read more about Soujanya at: Perfect with Numbers

Beyond school meals

Aside from providing school midday meal, Akshaya Patra is also involved in various socio-developmental initiatives to ensure the betterment of the beneficiaries and the society such as Anganwadi feeding programme, feeding expecting and lactating mothers, scholarship programme, life skills programme, and conducting awareness programmes.

Support meals of children

For many children in government schools, the mid-day meal is an important aspect of their daily lives. It takes just Rs. 1,150 to feed a child for a year! Additionally, a contribution towards a child’s meal is considered as tax deductible donations under Section 80G of the Indian Income Tax Act. This makes supporting a child’s meal a win-win for the beneficiary and yourself. Well, then step forward and benefit a child with food and education.