India, Dec. 2 -- A senior official of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) flagged violations, such as expired ingredients and contaminated food, in centres which prepare mid-day meals for students. Penalties and show-cause notices have been issued to the centres.

Deputy chairman of MCD's education committee, Anit Khadkari, last month visited three NGOs which supply food to MCD-run schools.

"When I visited the kitchens, I found many violations. Most striking being that pouches of tobacco were lying all around and when asked about the condition, the workers could not explain. Some sacks of ingredients were expired, while many did not have the manufacturing or expiry dates on them. The kitchens also did not have functioning fly traps,...