
Malappuram: In a recent initiative, children of Anganwadis will be provided delicious and nutritious food. Malappuram District ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) is planning to launch a smart diet scheme in order to provide nutritious food.
Pregnant women, lactating mothers and preschool children are included in the diet scheme. The decision to modify the diet menu for ICDS consumers was taken in a meeting chaired by the collector.
Smart food
The smart diet scheme proposes to provide nutritious food for children in morning, noon and evening. Fruits, vegetables, egg and milk produced in the kitchen gardens of households are collected through Kudumbashree in order to prepare the food. Different menus are prepared every day from Monday to Saturday.
The menu suggests ragi (finger millet) or rice flour ada, idli, noolputtu, vegetable pulao and puttu along with delicious side dishes for breakfast. The menu for noon includes vegetable biryani, egg fried rice, sadya and Kashmiri pulao along with juice. Different types of snacks including payasam is arranged for evening.
Modification in February
Initially the scheme will be implemented in 10 anganwadis in Malappuram municipality from February 1 onwards. Ahead of this, a study will be conducted regarding the nutritious level in pregnant women, lactating mothers and children aged between 3-6 years. Following this, the modified diet will be implemented in all anganwadis.
The grains distributed in order to reduce the anaemia among pregnant women and lactating mothers and malnutrition will be replaced with a new nutrition mix. This will be supplied through anganwadis in ready-to-mix powder form safely packaged by Kudumbashree.