MCD plans oats cookies, fruit and kheer in Delhi school meals from November

Oats cookies, fruit, kheer and sambar rice are among the items MCD plans to add to midday meals at nearly 1,500 schools in Delhi from November.

MCD plans to require agencies operating school kitchens to provide at least one special item each day. Staples including puri-aloo, dal-rice, chole-rice, rajma-chawal and kadhi-chawal would continue. Wheat and ragi halwa are also planned twice a week.

The civic body has floated a tender for new kitchen operators and is surveying shortlisted facilities. It expects to finalise 13 new vendors next week. Agencies have been asked to introduce the additions using their existing kitchen infrastructure.

Earlier, MCD asked school principals for data on students who were not taking school meals. Under PM POSHAN norms, each primary-school meal must provide 450 calories and 12 grams of protein.

MCD says five third-party laboratories test supplies, collecting four samples from each agency every month: three from food served to children and one from the kitchen.