Gandhinagar: Continuing its commitment for ensuring food safety and promoting healthy eating, the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) has bagged Eat Right Campus Award with a five-star rating from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for the second consecutive year.

This time FSSAI has certified IITGN as the ‘Eat Right Campus’ with five-star rating for a period of two years, i.e. up to August 14, 2022; after third party auditing by DNV GL Business Assurance India Pvt Ltd (DNVGL). The audit is done based on a checklist of following five parameters: a) Compliance to food safety and hygiene; b) Healthy diets; c) Food waste management; d) Promotion of local and seasonal foods on campus; and e) Promotion and awareness on food safety and healthy diets in and around campus.

IITGN ensures strict compliance of all food standards and safety guidelines in each of its mess, food joints and canteens on the campus. Both student mess and all the food joints on campus are licensed by FSSAI, and their food handlers are trained periodically by the Food Safety Awareness and Training Organization (FSATO), an empanelled training partner of FSSAI. As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, IITGN took all precautionary steps to ensure adherence to safety measures and social distance by everyone in the mess and the food joints.

Sharing his thoughts on this recognition, Prof Sudhir K Jain, Director, IITGN said, “We are a residential campus, and IITGN campus is home to our students, our entire community, and also the visitors. And hence, we make best efforts that all our food joints provide with nutritious, wholesome and safe food, just what mothers try for their children. ‘Eat Right Campus’ recognition by FSSAI for the second consecutive year will be a strong encouragement to all the staff and vendors of our food joints and will strengthen our efforts to ensure healthy eating practices for the campus community.”

Dedicating this award to the teamwork of all the stakeholders, Prof Sivapriya Kirubakaran, Associate Professor, Chemistry, and Warden, Mess and Eateries, IITGN said, “This achievement of the Institute not only gives each one of us a sense of fulfilment but it also reflects on our sustained “Teamwork”. This is a result of dedicated efforts by all the stakeholders, including mess contractors, eateries in the hostel and academic area, their employees, housekeeping services, our Green Office, the IWD team, our students, faculty and staff members, who have been contributing in many ways to sustain high-quality services at all eating joints of the campus.”

Eat Right Campus Initiatives by IITGN:

IITGN ensures high standards for the quality of food served at its dining halls and other eating joints. Appropriate measures are taken to maintain cleanliness and hygiene. All the food joints on campus have valid FSSAI license. The Institute focuses on healthy food habits; the menu served in the mess is tailored every month by the student mess council for a balanced diet that provides the body with essential nutrition. Besides, all the food joints use fortified foods (+F) such as double fortified Salt, Rice, Wheat Flour, Oil and Milk, to further enhance the food nutrition.

IITGN also promotes local and seasonal foods by inclusion of such vegetables and fruit items in the monthly menu. The food waste is sent to the in-house biogas plant to make manure. The mess committee regularly conducts awareness programs to reduce food wastage. A notice board outside both the dining halls displays the amount of daily food wastage to create a sense of responsibility among the community.