In March 2014, The Akshaya Patra Foundation launched phase III of its training session on food safety, quality and personal hygiene for cooks-cum-helpers, held in association with the Ministry for Human Resources and Development (MHRD). This programme is expected to train up to 900 cook-cum-helpers in this phase.
Need for the programme
The Akshaya Patra Foundation maintains quality and hygiene as the cornerstone of its operations processes while cooking the mid-day meal. To this end, the kitchens employ Food Safety Management Systems and uses state of the art technology to ensure minimum human contact with the food. However, it is also crucial that the cook- cum-helpers understand and adopt these crucial quality standards in their work for the programme to succeed.
Programme implementation
The phase I and II saw the training of over 1,100 cooks-cum-helpers across the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. These individuals were assisted through a series of day long training sessions. Phase III which began in March kicked off with 400 cooks-cum-helpers from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. In the months of April and May, the programme will see training sessions being held in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Programme improvements
Phase III of the programme has been modified based on learning from phase I and II, to improve on the experience of the participants. This time The Akshaya Patra Foundation has also created a handbook and other training material with pictorial designs on food safety practices to ensure the continued implementation of these methods.
The programme has been a resounding success so far with A Ch Marak, Director of School Education and Literacy, Meghalaya expressing his gratitude to The Akshaya Patra Foundation for their efforts in constantly striving to improve the quality standards of the mid-day meal.
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