Quality Assurance During the Procurement of Raw Materials

The Safety and Quality Management System (SQMS) covers subprocesses like supplier selection, supplier qualification, supplier rating, etc., to ensure that the right and best raw materials are procured. Our quality control process ensures that raw materials are accepted only after a thorough quality inspection to meet all the requirements of our raw material specifications, which are generally taken and adapted from the Food Safety Standards Act 2006 (FSSA).

Quality and Safety During Cooking

All our kitchens follow a standard process for preparing mid-day meals. This process is charted out to adhere to food safety standards and ensure the hygiene and quality of the cooked meal. All the cooking equipment, like cauldrons, trolleys, rice chutes and sambar/dal tanks, cutting boards, knives, etc., are sterilised using steam before the cooking process begins. The vessels used in the kitchens are made of stainless steel of 304 grade and are best for cooking and handling food.

The decentralised kitchen units are equipped with necessary cooking equipment like chapati pans, cooking vessels for rice and dal, and vessels for transporting the cooked mid-day meals to schools. Personal hygiene and food safety training are provided regularly to the kitchen staff to ensure that hygiene standards are met.

All the kitchens have well-trained cooks and production supervisors to manage and supervise the production. Critical Control Points (CCPs), like cooking temperature, are checked and recorded at periodic intervals to ensure the quality of the meal.

To ensure food quality is maintained, regular quality checks are done by the quality officers in each kitchen.

Post Delivery Process

In order to consistently maintain the quality of the meal, we take regular feedback from schools. The quality officers in the kitchens review the feedback and initiate appropriate corrective or improvement actions as deemed necessary to improve the quality and delivery of food. We also circulate ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ pamphlets to all schools on a regular basis to create awareness on food safety and hygiene while serving mid-day meals.

Audit and review mechanisms play a crucial role in monitoring the key processes and systems and their performance. We have institutionalised Good Manufacturing Process (GMP), monthly audits, surprise audits on food safety and quality, etc. Quality metrics performance is reviewed on a monthly basis. Detailed customer satisfaction surveys are done by the quality staff at periodic intervals apart from the day-to-day feedback we take during food delivery. In certified kitchens, ISO 22000 Internal Audits are done twice a year by qualified Internal Auditors led by quality and FSMS managers. Our certification body undertakes surveillance audits twice a year. The data from all the respective audits are reviewed and appropriate improvement or corrective actions are taken. All actions are further monitored till effective implementation.