66 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Nutritious education has become one of the important activities of the department for
more than three decades. Thirty Four Mobile Food and Nutrition Extension Units (MEUs)
equipped with mobile van, audio- visual equipments and technical trained personnel have
been set up the Department of Food in different parts of the country to impart nutrition
education in rural, urban and tribal areas. These units organise live demonstrations supported
by lecture-cum-discussions, films and slide shows and exhibitions on various aspects of food,
nutritions and health in collaboration with the state governments, educational institutions
and voluntary orgainsations. The Department of Food also has Thirty Three Food and
Nutrition Extensions (FNECs) in different Parts of Country for imparting education and
training in home-scale preservation of fruits and vegetables and nutrition mainly to the
housewives and providing progressing facilities for fruits and vegetables for domestic
consumption.
Realizing the importance of integrated to nutrition, the Department of Food is
implementing an Integrated Nutrition Education Scheme Department with a view to equip
the grass-root level works of the concerned sectors with simple knowledge in food, nutrition
and health so that these messages are conveyed to the community by all field functionaries
during the course of their respective duties. Intensive training is imparted to grass-root
level workers and their supervisors belonging to different sectors implementing nutrition,
health and welfare progrmmes by MEUs and FNECs by orgainising Integrated Nutrition
Education Camps at the block level and orientation training Nutrition Education Camps at
the block level orientation training courses at State Level Training Institutes or Home
Science Colleges respectively.
A Nation Nutritious Week is celebrated in the Country from 1-7 September every year
with a view to create nutritional awareness among the people. This Department has taken
up action programmes for the development and production of low-cost proceed nutritious
food for use in supplementary feeding, programme and meeting the requirements of vulnerable
sections of the population. These foods are Miltone (a nutritious milk beverage), Energy
Foods, Ready-to-Eat Extruded Food and Weaning Foods. It has also taken up schemes for
fortification of milk with Vatamin ‘A’ and Salt with Iron. The Milk Fortification Scheme is
in operation through 45 dairies in the Country covering 16 states and two union territories.
The analysis of fruit and vegetable products under the regulation of quality control of this
product for domestic consumption as well as export has also been entrusted to the department
and is carried out at Four Laboratories at Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
Note: Courtesy Research and Reference Division Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
Govt. of India.
- Distribution aspect of Food Problem
Distribution of foodgrain is far from being satisfactory. It is essential that the available
foodgrains in the country should be distributed to public at fair-price and appropriate time.
But the policy adopted by the Government for food procurement, price control ends in fiasco
due to lack of initiative, hoarding and Black-marketing by traders is the next problem. It
is worth mentioning that our Government has taken up proper measures in this direction.
The Public distribution System has become one of the basic features in the Governments
Policy. Its role as an anti-inflationary measure has also been recognized. The system is
designised. The system is designed to help both the producers and the consumers, as