Akshaya Patra - Annual Report 2015

THE AKSHAYA PATRA KITCHEN
Food Safety and Hygiene
To reach out to children and provide mid-day meals across
the country, including the remotest corners, Akshaya Patra
operates two formats of kitchen infrastructure. The format
is decided by the need, terrain and accessibility of a
particular location.
When food is cooked for millions of children, hygiene
and cleanliness become our foremost priority.
Thus, each day, each Akshaya Patra kitchen ensures
that children are served plateful of hygienic, clean and
nutritious mid-day meals.
Centralised Kitchen
The Centralised Kitchen format is mainly adopted in urban
and semi-urban locations. Centralised kitchens have the
capacity to cook up to one million meals and are thus ideal
for large scale feeding. These are mechanised cooking units
that require minimal human intervention to carry out the
cooking process.
Decentralised Kitchen
The Decentralised Kitchen format is adopted in remote
locations where factors like difficult geographical terrain
and improper road connectivity do not support construction
of large kitchens. Decentralised Kitchens are run by the
Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) under the guidance and
supervision of Akshaya Patra’s kitchen process and operations
module. These kitchens are equipped to cook mid-day meals
for one or two schools in the vicinity. Thus, a set of decentralised
units make up for the mid-day meal requirement in an
entire location.
At every stage of the operations process quality measures
are implemented to make the food as safe, nutritious and
tasty as possible. In the pre-production process, Akshaya
Patra implements Supplier Quality Management Systems
(SQMS) for supplier selection to ensure that only qualified
suppliers are partnered with for the programme. Once the
raw material is sourced from the supplier, the organisation
uses a First In First Out (FIFO) method to make sure that all
perishable items are used efficiently. Even within the
kitchen, all vessels are made with 304 grade stainless steel,
the best for cooking and storing food. At all the kitchens the
staff also follow stringent safety protocol like wearing
gloves, face masks, hair caps, gum boots and other protective
gear. They follow proper hygiene practices like taking daily
showers and frequently washing their hands in addition to
other practices listed out in the hygiene charts placed
around the kitchens. Besides this Akshaya Patra also organises
regular training sessions for employees, receives feedback on
the food from schools and undertakes improvement strategies
like Kaizen, Six Sigma and Continual Improvement projects.
Currently, 22 locations follow the Centralised Kitchen
format and two locations - Baran in Rajasthan and
Nayagarh in Odisha, follow the Decentralised Kitchen
format.
Akshaya Patra has been recognised as an
example for food safety, and has received
the CII National Food Safety Award for
two years in a row (in 2013 and 2014).
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