India's Mid-Day Meals: Death Served On a Platter

Bangalore: The country has been taken by a shock as a mid-day meal in a school in Bihar killed a dozen students. The mid-day meal tragedy led to fatalities rising to 27. This seems to be the country's worst mid-day meal tragedy so far.

The free mid-day meal was served to the children in Gandamal village, 80 kilometers north of Patna. The children who were barely aged 5-12, were ailing soon after eating rice, soya, lentils and potatoes, and soon 22 of them were declared dead and dozens were hospitalized.

A doctor said the postmortem reports of 22 children who died after eating the school lunch confirmed that insecticide was either in the food or cooking oil. It is alleged that the food was not washed before it was served at the school.

The Bihar state education minister, PK Sahi, said that a preliminary investigation revealed that the food served to the children contained an organophosphate used as an insecticide on rice and wheat crops, as reported by TOI.

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