Gandhinagar: Amid the ongoing debate over quality of food given to armed personnel following the viral video message of a BSF jawan, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar today said that that the quality of food must be maintained and several steps were initiated in last 2 years for making it more satisfactory and he himself was monitoring it.

Parrikar, who was here to participate in the valedictory session of the 8 the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, told newsmen on its sidelines here that the government was quite concerned about the quality of food being supplied to the armed forces.

‘See, as the BSF comes under the ambit of the union home ministry, I can’t say much about the incident (regarding the video message about alleged poor quality of food being served). However I can say that the better quality of food must be ensured. The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) through its report in 2012-13 had raised such issue after with the efforts to improve the quality of food supply were initiated,’ he said.

Parrikar said that he himself was monitoring the quality of food supplied to the armed forces. ‘In the last two years several steps have been taken in this direction. The supply of frozen food items including chicken approved by the food safety and standards authority of India (FSSAI) has been ensured to 26 centers. Many other efforts to make the food more satisfactory were also being made.

DeshGujarat