Stones in khichdi: Markfed to change food packaging, to use cardboard cartons

A government source said Markfed has decided to provide better packaging of food material, including sweet and salty dalia and millet khichdi, after complaints of foreign particles in these food products received.

“We checked the entire supply process and found packets of panjiri, dalia and khichdi damaged during transportation. Sometimes, these packets were punctured to ensure they were not damaged due to pressure while handling. We have now directed them to stop this. Air-tight packets of international standards will be used and transported in cartons. This will cause our input cost to go up, but we will forgo one per cent of our profit,” said a government officer.

The officer added these cartons would be handy for Anganwadi centres which sometimes do not have proper storage space and food packets will remain protected in the cartons. “We know sometimes Anganwadi centres supplying food material to beneficiaries do not have proper storage space. This becomes an issue, especially during monsoon, as some food packets get wet. Now, there would be no such issues,” the officer said.

A row ensued after several videos of foreign objects like small stones in food packets distributed by Anganwadi centres went viral. The Centre took cognisance of the matter after SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal had raised it in Parliament. Union minister Annapurna Devi wrote to the state government over the issue. Punjab Women and Child Welfare Minister Dr Baljit Kaur denied such reports in her reply to the Centre.

Under the ICDS programme, supplementary nutrition is provided to beneficiaries, funded by the state and the Centre in a ratio of 60:40. Sources said the programme is worth Rs 125 crore.

The Women and Child Welfare Department is considering replacing panjiri with some other item, Dr Kaur told The Indian Express Monday. Sources said Markfed was told not to use millets in panjiri, so they are looking at some alternatives. “It is still in the nascent stage. We do not have millets available now. The government wanted to procure millets from Haryana. Then it was decided to prepare something available with Markfed. Discussions have taken place on besan laddu. Let’s see what we will do,” another officer said.

On substandard material, Markfed has written to the Women and Child Welfare Department that “regular quality check is conducted on samples collected from each batch and each item is tested in government labs. The Health Department also collects samples to cross-check. Over 250 samples have been taken to date and none failed”.

“The allegations of work being further tendered to a blacklisted company are false. All companies awarded the tender had filed due affidavits for not being blacklisted/ debarred/ not having any criminal case or case of food adulteration, or manufacturing of substandard quality. The said company has also been supplying to Verka since 2004 and the HP State Milk Cooperative since 2005,” Milkfed stated.

“As for the allegations about panjiri being made with soyabean oil instead of desi ghee, it is clarified that, before proceeding further, PAU Ludhiana was first consulted for the recipe of the millet-based panjiri, where it was clarified that ‘the preparation of panjiri in desi ghee or refined soyabean oil is a matter of economic feasibility more than nutritional profile. Panjiri prepared from soyabean oil was acceptable. Later, it was cleared by the Department of Social Security And Women & Child Development (SSWCD).”

Economic viability

Panjiri was supplied for Rs 110 per kg by Verka and Markfed supplies it for Rs 71 per kg to add more beneficiaries under the budget provided by the Centre and the prescribed cost norms, an official said.

Further, it may be noted pre-cooked/ pre-mixed cooking food is being supplied because these have inherent benefits to the children i.e. uniform taste, consistency in quality and nutritional value, hygiene, time-saving, and avoidance of pilferage among others, the official said.

Markfed has also been supplying dry rations i.e. whole moong, besan, soya nuggets, double fortified salt, atta and raw dalia to the Department of SSWCD, it said.

“Markfed’s vendor and the manufacturer have the facility to detect foreign matter in the processing line at its plant. The final product is passed through the vibro-sifter, which has very fine mesh. No particle larger than dalia can pass through this mesh. If there are any larger particles, they are separated and discarded inside the collecting bag. It is impossible to find these foreign particles in the final product,” it stated.

Markfed also said that they are a reputed brand supplying international markets from the EU to Australia and to premier institutions in India from paramilitary canteens, religious shrine boards such as the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board and Dera Beas, PGI, and CITCO, among others.