MP Hostel Food Safety: Insects Allegedly Found In Meals, Students Fall Ill As Over Dozen Complaints Surface; FDA To Inspect Messes
· Free Press Journal
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): From insects and worm-like objects allegedly found in meals to students falling ill after eating hostel food and complaints received from residential schools, college hostels and universities across Madhya Pradesh have raised questions over compliance with food safety norms and the monitoring mechanism meant to protect students.
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More than a dozen incidents and complaints have surfaced in recent weeks, with students flagging food quality, kitchen hygiene, drinking water and violations of prescribed menus.
The cases span government hostels, residential schools and higher education campuses, raising concerns over inspections and action against those responsible.
In government hostels, the superintendent or warden is responsible for day-to-day supervision, including checking food quality. Departmental and district-level officers of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are also expected to monitor institutions.
School hostels
Schools serving meals under the PM POSHAN scheme must follow prescribed food safety guidelines. Residential hostel messes must also comply with applicable food safety and hygiene requirements, including proper menus, quality ingredients, safe storage, clean kitchens and pest control.
Responsibility for supervision rests with the school administration, hostel superintendent or warden and the relevant departmental authorities.
At the Government Shramoday Residential School in Bhopal, 13 students from Classes 6 to 9 reportedly complained of stomach pain and vomiting after dinner and were taken to JP Hospital. Students alleged that a lizard had fallen into a cooking vessel.
In another case, 32 tribal girls reportedly walked around 16 km to raise complaints about substandard food and inadequate infrastructure at their hostel.
At a government girls' hostel in Barwani, students protested against poor food quality, alleging that insects were frequently found in vegetables. At a boys' ashram in Bokrata, Barwani, an inquiry followed complaints that evening snacks were not being supplied according to the prescribed menu.
University messes
University and college messes m
ust comply with applicable food safety laws including Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) requirements, institutional regulations and contractual conditions.
The hygiene framework for catering covers food procurement, storage, cooking, serving, staff hygiene, pest control and sanitation. Mess operators should possess the food business licence.
At Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), around 40 students reportedly fell ill after eating at a hostel. The FDA inspected the mess and collected seven food samples.
According to the inspection report, documents related to the food business licence, staff medical fitness, pest control and Food Safety Training and Certification training were unavailable on site.
Earlier, students at two MANIT hostels had suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea, following which food and water samples were collected. At SAGE University in Bhopal, students protested over food quality, alleging that insects and cockroaches had repeatedly been found in hostel meals.
SC and ST hostels
Government hostels run by SC welfare and tribal affairs departments have separate administrative chains. Depending on the institution, supervision may involve the superintendent or warden, district-level assistant commissioner, departmental coordinator or other designated officers.
At the Government SC Girls' College hostel on Panchsheel Campus in Bhopal, students complained to the district collector about insects allegedly found in food, watery curries and the conduct of kitchen staff. At Ambedkar Hostel in Bhopal, students complained about food quality.
FDA to inspect hostel messes and canteens
FDA chief officer Shivraj Pawak said, "We held a meeting to review food safety arrangements in hostel messes, hospitals, and school and college canteens. Inspection teams will check kitchen hygiene, food storage, pest control and valid licences. Action will be taken against the guilty."
Students complain of poor food quality
Student of Government Ambedkar Hostel Lakshya Ahirwar said, "We have informed the warden about the quality many times, but nothing happened. We also made a committee of students to inspect meal quality."
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