Karnataka: Eggs or bananas, but no more peanut 'Chikki' for school students; Know why

The Education Department has directed that the distribution of groundnut chikki in all government and aided schools in Karnataka be suspended, following concerns about its high fat and sugar content.

Bengaluru: The Education Department has instructed that the distribution of groundnut chikki (peanut brittle) to students in all government and aided schools in the state be immediately suspended. Instead, only bananas should be provided to children who do not consume eggs.

Currently, children who do not consume eggs are being given chikki as an alternative. However, chikki contains higher levels of fat and sugar, and if not stored properly, it can become unfit for consumption, posing potential health risks to children. As a result, the Additional Commissioner of Kalaburagi urged the department to ensure that only bananas are distributed instead of chikki. Similar requests have come from other districts as well.

For this reason, the Department of School Education and Literacy has decided that eggs or bananas should be distributed as supplementary nutrition in all government and aided schools in the state. The distribution of chikki will be suspended, and separate guidelines will be issued in this regard, with instructions to the department’s commissioner.