midday meals

FFL Annamrita’s food dispatch process is something to admire

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Everyday, 258 cooks prepare wholesome meals in 20 Annamrita kitchens and 301 vehicles carry hope and promise to over a million children in 6288 schools across India. After the raw materials have been procured, the rice cleaned and the cooking completed, the next challenge is the dispatch process. How to get so many meals out to the children as fast and efficiently as we can? The day before, all the containers have been air dried after washing and then sanitized; this ensures that they are 100% clean when filled with highly nutritious hot food. Once the food is ready, it is tasted and observations for temperature, colour, appearance, flavour, consistency and taste are documented. After the documented parameters are found to be acceptable, the containers are passed on the conveyor below the cauldrons. The outlet valve at the bottom of the cauldron is opened and the container is filled with the food. Once filled up to the pre-measured level, the containers are pushed on the conveyor and the next container is filled. In this entire process, food is untouched by hand. This ensures maintenance of high standards of hygiene and sanitation. Next, the filled containers are sealed with security seals to avoid tampering. The security seal is of paramount importance and the schools have been instructed to not accept the containers if the seal is broken. Each container has a specific colour coded security seal (which indicates the variety and quantity of food) to help easily identify during delivery.  Samples of all the food cooked for the day are taken out and their temperature is measured 3 hours after the dispatch to coincide with the school lunch break timings. In this way we can ensure that the food is still at a safe temperature when the children eat their lunch.  After washing and sanitizing the serving spoons, they […]

FFL Annamrita in Kolkata

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[youtube]http://youtu.be/IdNnLvJlDqs[/youtube] A project by ISKCON Food Relief Foundation Distributing over 1,300,000 meals everyday across India Midday Meal is a strategic program to liberate the underprivileged children from scourge of hunger and malnutrition, this program is a project of the Government of India, and is being implemented by ISKCON Food Relief Foundation under the Brand name of “Annamrlta” in select schools in Delhi, Maharashtra. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, Jharkhand, Assam and West Bengal. ISKCON Food Relief Foundation was formed with the twin objectives of eradicating hunger and promoting education amongst the under-privileged sections of the society and thereby ensuring their socio-economic development. IFRF is a non-profit, non-religious, non-sectarian public charitable trust formed on April 23, 2004 and registered under 1he Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950. ‘Annamrita’ program is based on our belief that one meal a day brings thousands of children to school. You can help every child In this country get an education, if you donate that one meal. As of now, we cater to approximately 1,250,000 children every day from our centers in Nigdi, Mira Bhayander, Paighar, Tardeo, wada, Aurganabad, Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Kurukshetra, Palwal, Tirupati, Nellore, Rajahmundry, Kadapa, Ranga Nara Gadda, Jaipur, Ujiain, Jamshedpur and Kolkata, and in Maharashtra alone we cater around 2,80,000 meals every day. Most of these children come from slums and tribal areas. The purpose of implementing this scheme is to facilitate the Government in increasing the enrollment in these schools, reducing the dropout rate and improving the attendance. Also as these are the formative years for the future adult, nutrition is of prime importance. Though it is a subsidized program by the Govt. the fund raising team makes up the gap by creating awareness of the project and regularly receiving support from individuals, philanthropists, organizations and corporate bodies. Corporate bodies […]

Annamrita Food for Life now serving 1.2 million vegan meals daily

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In 1863, Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (a German philosopher) wrote “Man is what he eats”. He was stating that the food one eats has a bearing on one’s state of mind and health. Food for Life Global affiliate, ISKCON Food Relief Foundation (IFRF) agrees. The humanitarian project based in India, is founded on the belief that the intake of food not only grants a person material survival, but also offers a chance to enrich their spirit. Preparing and serving food to others has always been an inherent part of the Indian culture. In the village life of ancient India, the householders saw themselves as food providers for all living beings, including animals. Not even a rat or a snake would go without food during the pinnacle of Vedic civilization in India. The Vedas declare that those who are cooking for themselves are simply eating sin, and therefore, it was critical for the householder to be hospitable and unselfish. The roots of IFRF date back to 1974, when the Vedic scholar and guru, Srila Prabhupada told his students, “No one within a ten mile radius of our temples should go hungry”. When the Government of India launched a strategic program in 1994 called the Midday Meal Scheme to fight two of the most pressing problems of India – hunger and illiteracy, IFRF saw a great opportunity for providing children with the right nutrition to support their education. The Midday Meal Project is being implemented by IFRF under the name of ‘annamrita’ meaning food as pure as nectar. Director of the project, Radha Krishna Das explains, “The first thing that comes to mind, when you think of nutritious food, is what a mother serves her child, and that’s what annamrita stands for. We strive to serve food to children, with the same love and devotion that otherwise their mother would […]

Mid-day meals nourish 1.2m underprivileged children

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30 April 2012 Government of India’s flagship project, ‘Mid-day meals’ continues to nourish more and more underprivileged children, now benefiting approximately 12,00,000 children in India. This is in view of a recent ‘Hunger and Malnutrition’ survey that puts the number of malnourished children in the country at 42 per cent. Mumbai: Mid-day meal is a strategic program to liberate the underprivileged children from scourge of hunger and malnutrition, this program is a project of the Government of India, and is being implemented by ISKCON Food Relief Foundation under the brand name of ANNAMRITA in selected schools in Delhi, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and Assam. ISKCON Food Relief Foundation is a non-profit, non-religious, non-sectarian charitable trust. This project is being implemented in Government aided, and municipal schools for the benefit of underprivileged children. It is done without any commercial motive and the benefits are available to students at large without any discrimination on grounds of religion, caste, creed or sex. Since the launch in 2004, state-of-the-art kitchens in the above mentioned states have been set up. As of now, the scheme caters approximately 12,00,000 children every day from our centres in Mira Bhayander, Palghar, Nigdi, Tardeo, Juhu, Wada, Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Kurukshetra, Palwal, Tirupati, Nellore, Rajahmundry, Kadapa, Ranga Nara Gadda, Vishakhapatnam, Jaipur, Guwahati, Panipat, Haridwar, Jamshedpur and Ujjain. Most of these children come from slums and tribal areas. The purpose of implementing this scheme is to facilitate the Government in increasing the enrollment in these schools, reducing the drop out rate, and improving the attendance. Also as these are the formative years for the future adult, therefore nutrition is of prime importance. Corporate bodies such as Accenture, Piramal Group, Reliance Industries, Sterlite, Apar Industries, Mafatlal Industries, Yash Birla Group, Glaxo Smith Kline, DSP […]

ISKCON Food Relief – simply the best in quality and quantity

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Food for Life Global affiliate, ISKCON Food Relief Foundation has set the standard for quality nutritious lunches for school children. The organisation continues to expand its popular lunch service all throughout India. The fact that the non-profit can maintain such a high standard of quality, while serving over 250,000 meals daily is astonishing to say the least. THE SETTING Hunger and illiteracy are two of India’s most widespread and pressing problems. Although public schooling is offered free of cost to children aged 6–14, poverty bars the underprivileged from taking advantage. Typically hailing from slums and tribal areas, such children must either go hungry at school or resort to begging and child labor. In 2004, the Government of Maharashtra appointed Midday Meal to provide nutritional support for primary school children. The initiative aims to break the hunger cycle by providing impoverished families the incentive to keep their children in school—and off the streets. Midday Meal is a non-profit strategic program run for the benefit of all hungry students without consideration of caste, religion, or gender. For most children, it is their only complete meal of the day. THE IMPACT Numerous studies have demonstrated that there is a direct correlation between these lunch programs and increased student enrollment, attendance, attention spans, and exam scores. Other benefits include reductions in skin infection, anemia, and marked improvements in body mass index. STATE OF THE ART PROCESS Midday Meal’s four ISO-certified, custom-built kitchens mass-produce meals which are hygienic, nutritious, tasty, and cost-effective. To feed one student costs only ten cents per day, or $20.35 per school year. Midday Meal’s logistical infrastructure is a marvel of engineering ingenuity. Its unique solutions include: automated conveyor belt steam-jacketed cauldrons (660 lb. capacity) tamper-proof stainless steel containers computerized recipes flight-kitchen grade ventilation and drainage rack-fitted delivery vehicles 4 kitchens + 55 cooks + 69 vans + […]

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