Naandi on behalf of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Government of Rajasthan and Government of Madhya Pradesh runs centralised kitchens to feed children in government schools. The kitchens are custom-built on the land allocated by respective state governments considering the number of schools and children each kitchen has to cater to.

Equipment

We use stainless steelcooking vessels with steam injection facilities to ensure fast, uniform and hygienic cooking and thereby retain nutritive values of vegetables and cereals. Diesel-fired boilers generate the requisite amount of steam required for cooking.

Apart from diesel-fired boilers, some of the other equipment used in the kitchens includes:

	Water softening plant
	Diesel generators
	Roti-making machines
	De-stoning (rice and wheat) machines
	Vegetable cutting machines
	Grinders for making in-house spices for curries
	High pressure water pumps to clean the cooking equipment
	Flour mills
	Can scrubbers to clean food containers
	Floor scrubbers
	Stainless steel trolleys, trays and shovels

Thus, making the entire cooking process hygienic. To comply with best pest control management practices, we have tied up with Pest Control of India (PCI) for regular cleaning and inspection of the kitchens.

Staff

There are 3 departments – cooking, transportation & distribution and pre-cooking (cleaning) department.

	The cooking department will have experienced head cooks for bulk cooking. They are supported by assistants to make spices, clean and cut vegetables and transfer cooked food into the containers.
	The transportation department comprises supervisors and helpers to monitor timely distribution and help load and unload the food containers from the kitchens to schools and vice-versa.
	The pre-cooking department is responsible for cleaning the cooking equipment, food containers and kitchen premises on a daily basis.

About the cooking process

The kitchen gets into action at 3 am in the morning. This is an improvement from the initial time of 1 am as cooking procedures have been further streamlined. The trucks carrying freshly cooked food leave by 8.30 am to ensure that all schools get their cans of the meal not later than 12 noon.

Diet & nutrition

The Midday Meal menu is decided in consultation with nutritionists from the National Institute of Nutrition. Feedback and suggestions from respective government school teachers are taken into consideration for further improvement.

The usual meal served is a curry supplemented with lots of vegetables, roti and rice. This afternoon meal is estimated to provide around 700 calories, which is more than the basic requirement of 450 calories stipulated by the National Institute of Nutrition. Emphasis is on to reduce the use of spices so that children enjoy their meal.

The weekly menu comprising plain rice, jeera rice, lemon rice, pulao (flavoured fried rice), moong dal (type of lentil), daal batti, khichdi and a variety of vegetable laden dry and wet curries is finalised in such a way that the calorie factor remains constant. By providing a combination of curries, we ensure that the menu is not repetitive in nature.

Cooking & hygiene

Stringent hygiene standards are followed while cooking. The food is steam cooked, which preserves maximum nutrition in the ingredients. Some of the other practices followed include:

	No perishables are stored. Vegetables are bought fresh everyday
	All the kitchen staff wear food grade disposable gloves, caps and aprons. No footwear is allowed inside the cooking area.
	No ingredient is touched by hand after cleaning. Equipment like trolleys, trays and shovels are used to move the ingredients and the cooked food for packing
	The conveyor belt moves the packed food containers from the cooking area to the loading bays
	Only municipal water is used both for cooking and cleaning
	All food-holding containers are cleaned daily with power hoses and anti-bacterial powder
	Premises are cleaned by a professionally trained housekeeping staff complying stringent cleanliness standards
	Packing of the food cans is done under supervision and on their arrival at the schools the cans are inspected by school heads or teachers nominated by them.

Raw material

	Rice and wheat is given by the government from the Food Corporation of India godowns.
	Dal, vegetables and provisions are sourced from wholesale dealers
	In-house spices are prepared for curries

Distribution

For locations such as Hyderabad, we used Global Positioning System (GPS), where we identified and mapped all the schools to determine the optimum way to transport food. For other locations, we work closely with transport coordinators and determine the best road routes that can save time and resources. The objective is to ensure that no school should get its lunch delivery later than 12.30 pm.

Transport

Requisite number of trucks are allocated for each location for the purpose of distribution. Each truck reaches approximately 13 schools and carries more than 50 containers. A supervisor and two helpers accompany each truck.

At the school, cans are delivered to the headmaster/mistress. Distribution to the students and cleaning the cans is the responsibility of the individual schools.

The trucks on their way back pick up the cans, and after reaching the central kitchen, are cleaned with water-power sprays and anti-bacterial powders and readied for use the next day.

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