Egg-spelled: Why eggs keep disappearing from midday meal menus

Fast-forward to 2022 and the advertisement in a memory of the distant past, popular on YouTube for its catchy jingle. The food it made popular, on the other hand, is facing tumultuous times, especially in Karnataka, where the inclusion of eggs in midday meals has kicked up controversy.

One of India’s policy success stories, midday meals have long been a staple in schools across the country but is now drawing flak in the southern state after the government announced plans to serve eggs 46 days a year, while vegetarian students would get fruit or chikki.

Tejaswini Ananth Kumar – wife of late MP and former Union minister Ananth Kumar – who runs Adamya Chetana, a facility that prepares meals for school kids, tweeted against the move, saying “eggs are not the only source of nutrition.”

Matters of malnutrition
But at the heart of the opposition is religious belief, according to nutritional experts. In a situation where nutritional health should be the focus, the debate has ended up centering itself around sentiments and caste-based purity.

“Growing children and even adults need protein. The protein we get from milk and eggs, every bit is used by the body, not just for muscles, bones and organs, but for molecules and enzymes,” says Dr Veena Shatrugna, former deputy director at the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad.

She adds that without adequate protein, the body’s fat-muscle ratio gets skewed. Protein that eggs provide with ease and in abundance. NIN’s dietary guidelines also clearly state the need for animal proteins as these are of “high quality” and “provide all the essential amino acids in right proportions. ”

More importantly, they can’t be adulterated and don’t spoil easy.

“There is evidence to show that midday meals not only enhance school attendance and child nutrition but also help children to eat together and thus break some of the social norms around gender, caste and religion,” says Dr Sylvia Karpagam, public health doctor, researcher and activist.

There is data to support both experts’ points, from Karnataka itself. In a pilot study of seven districts it was found that kids who were served eggs “had better mean weight gain in all classes except class V where it was almost the same,” as opposed to districts where bananas were served.

There was also not much resistance to egg consumption with 83% of students eating them on at least half the days it was provided.

Resistance comes not from the students but from some NGOs who don’t want to serve eggs for religious reasons. In some cases, states have to provide these from private companies, which often does not happen.

Selective sorting

Even if the opposition to serving eggs were to be withdrawn, multiple states are plagued by funding shortfalls. In Chhattisgarh, for instance, only a few kids – usually the most malnourished – get eggs in their midday meals.

“Those are the funds they are given. In each anganwadi, only 1-2 kids are being given eggs. This is also because they don’t want the data to show how common malnourishment is,” says Chhattisgarh-based activist Gangaram Paikra.

Chhattisgarh is home to 7.5% of India’s Adivasi population, and the tribes make up close to 30% of the state’s population.

“The government should not decide what Adivasis eat. They talk about development, but kids are not growing, physically or mentally. What is the use of building roads and houses without this development?” he adds.

Eggs in midday meals face opposition in other parts of the country too, with many places just not implementing the policy. The National Institute of Nutrition recommends at least three eggs a week.

“While caste has been studied in several dimensions, little work has been done on how predominantly vegetarian researchers interpret research findings and vegetarian policy makers convert nutrition guidelines into policy. Understanding this would enable better and more informed policy making,” adds Dr Karpagam.

It’s even more important since nutrition indicators change across caste lines, she points out. In Karnataka, the prevalence of stunting was found in 39. 3% of ST kids and 39. 1% of SC kids, as compared to 36. 2% overall, according to the 2015 National Family Health Survey. Similarly with weight, 40. 1% of SC students were underweight, as were 40. 3% of students from ST communities. Overall, it was 35. 2%.

(With inputs from TOI)