Maharashtra’s Food Safety Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has issued a binding order requiring all food served within school premises across the state to comply with the dietary guidelines established by the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), the country’s premier nutrition research body under the Indian Council of Medical Research. The directive, issued under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, applies to government, government-aided, and private schools, covering meals provided under the PM POSHAN (formerly Mid-Day Meal) scheme, canteen sales, and any other food made available to students during school hours. The order marks a significant regulatory shift toward evidence-based nutritional standards in educational settings, aiming to address the dual burden of undernutrition and rising childhood obesity by anchoring school food policy in nationally recognized scientific benchmarks.
What Happened
The order, signed by Commissioner Mundhe, directs all school managements, food business operators contracted by schools, and relevant district-level food safety officers to ensure that menus, ingredient sourcing, preparation methods, and portion sizes align with the NIN’s “Dietary Guidelines for Indians” and its specific recommendations for school-age children. The NIN guidelines prescribe daily nutrient requirements — including calories, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals — tailored to age groups, and emphasize dietary diversity, limitation of ultra-processed foods high in salt, sugar, and fat, and adherence to food safety hygiene practices.
The commissioner’s directive mandates that schools submit compliance plans to district food safety officers within a stipulated timeframe, detailing menu cycles, procurement sources for perishable and non-perishable items, and standard operating procedures for kitchen hygiene. District food safety officers are tasked with conducting periodic inspections, sampling food for laboratory analysis, and initiating penal action under the FSS Act for non-compliance. The order also calls for the formation of school-level nutrition monitoring committees comprising parents, teachers, and a designated food safety supervisor to oversee daily meal quality.
Why It Matters
Maharashtra has over 1.1 lakh schools serving an estimated 2.2 crore students, making this one of the largest sub-national school food regulatory interventions in India. The move directly targets the nutritional quality of food consumed by children during critical growth years. National surveys, including the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016-18) and NFHS-5 (2019-21), have shown that while stunting and wasting remain concerns in Maharashtra, overweight and obesity among school-age children are rising sharply, particularly in urban areas. The easy availability of high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt (HFSS) foods in school canteens and surrounding areas has been identified as a key driver.
By mandating NIN guidelines — which are developed through rigorous scientific review and are the basis for the Centre’s “Eat Right School” certification program — the state is replacing a patchwork of advisory circulars with a single, enforceable standard. This reduces discretion at the school or contractor level, where cost-cutting often leads to the use of refined grains, reused cooking oil, and pre-packaged snacks of poor nutritional value. The order also brings private schools, which have historically operated with less oversight on food standards, under the same regulatory umbrella as government schools implementing the PM POSHAN scheme.
Analysis:
The shift to a nationally benchmarked, legally enforceable standard represents a maturation of school food policy from welfare-based feeding to rights-based nutrition security. It aligns Maharashtra with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) 2020 regulations restricting HFSS foods in school canteens and within 50 meters of school campuses, which have seen uneven enforcement across states. The success of this order will hinge on the state’s capacity to translate scientific guidelines into practical, affordable menu options for diverse school contexts — from rural tribal ashram schools with limited supply chains to elite urban private schools with outsourced catering.
Background and Context
The National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, has been the apex body for nutrition research in India since 1918. Its dietary guidelines, last revised in 2024, form the scientific backbone for national programs including the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), PM POSHAN, and the National Health Mission. The guidelines recommend that school meals provide one-third of the daily Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for children, with emphasis on whole grains, pulses, vegetables, fruits, milk, and eggs or meat where culturally acceptable, while limiting added sugars to less than 5% of total energy intake and eliminating trans fats.
Maharashtra has a history of pioneering school nutrition interventions. It was among the first states to introduce a cooked mid-day meal program in the 1990s, and in 2018 it banned the sale of “junk food” in school canteens through a government resolution. However, that ban lacked a defined nutrient profile model and relied on a vague list of prohibited items, leading to inconsistent implementation. The current order addresses that gap by referencing the NIN’s specific nutrient thresholds and food group recommendations.
The PM POSHAN scheme, which covers over 11 crore children nationally, provides central assistance for food grains and cooking costs, but menu planning and procurement are largely decentralized to states and districts. Maharashtra’s order effectively raises the floor for nutritional quality across all feeding channels, including the scheme. It also responds to long-standing demands from public health experts and child rights bodies for a unified, science-based standard that covers both the mid-day meal and the “competitive foods” sold in canteens.
What to Watch Next
Several operational questions will determine the order’s impact. First, the state must issue detailed implementation guidelines translating NIN’s nutrient-based recommendations into practical meal patterns, portion sizes, and food group frequencies for different age groups and regional food habits. The NIN guidelines are nutrient-centric; converting them into a weekly menu cycle that is culturally acceptable, seasonally available, and cost-effective requires technical support from nutritionists and food technologists.
Second, the monitoring framework. The order assigns inspection duties to district food safety officers, but Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has historically faced staffing shortages. As of 2023, the state had roughly 300 food safety officers for over 36 districts, a ratio that may be insufficient for regular school inspections alongside other mandates. The state may need to leverage the existing PM POSHAN monitoring structure — which includes block-level coordinators and social audits — and integrate food safety checks into that system.
Third, capacity building. School cooks, self-help group members, and private caterers will need training on the new standards, including hygiene, portion control, and ingredient substitution. The order mentions training but does not specify a budget or timeline. The state’s partnership with FSSAI’s “Food Safety Training and Certification” (FoSTaC) program could be expanded to cover school food handlers systematically.
Fourth, cost implications. Meeting NIN standards — particularly the recommendation for daily milk, egg, or fruit — may increase per-meal costs beyond the current PM POSHAN cooking cost norms (₹5.45 per child per day for primary, ₹8.17 for upper primary as of 2024). The state government may need to enhance its top-up contribution or explore convergence with other schemes (e.g., milk distribution under the Animal Husbandry Department) to avoid burdening school management committees.
Fifth, private school compliance. Private unaided schools, which often outsource canteens to commercial operators, may resist menu changes that affect profitability. The order’s penal provisions — including fines up to ₹5 lakh and license cancellation under the FSS Act — provide enforcement teeth, but consistent application across thousands of private institutions will require political will and transparent grievance redressal mechanisms.
Finally, community engagement. The mandated school-level nutrition monitoring committees could become a powerful accountability tool if they are empowered with clear roles, access to inspection reports, and a direct line to district authorities. Civil society organizations working on child nutrition should be invited to support social audits.
Conclusion
Maharashtra’s order mandating NIN dietary guidelines for all school food is a landmark regulatory step that elevates child nutrition from a scheme-level concern to a statutory obligation grounded in science. It addresses a critical policy gap by extending uniform, evidence-based standards to the entire school ecosystem, irrespective of management type or funding source. The order’s potential to improve the nutritional status of millions of children is substantial, but its realization depends on the state’s ability to operationalize scientific guidelines into daily meals, build inspection capacity, ensure financial viability, and foster genuine community oversight. If implemented with rigor, Maharashtra could set a replicable model for other states, transforming school food from a calorie-delivery mechanism into a foundation for lifelong health.
Sources:
The Hindu – National (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/maharashtra/maharashtra-issues-order
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Story synopsis gathered from: The Hindu – National — source
