Govt begins awareness campaign for healthy food for Char Dham pilgrims

The state government started an awareness campaign on Sunday with the aim of providing healthy food to the pilgrims on the Char Dham Yatra route, officials familiar with the matter said.

- HT Correspondent

DEHRADUN:

Health secretary and commissioner, food safety and drug administration, Uttarakhand, R Rajesh Kumar said: "The campaign has been started, from Sunday and will continue till the end of Char Dham Yatra, at ground zero on the instructions of chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and health minister Dhan Singh Rawat. The main objective of this initiative is to control the amount of excess salt, sugar and fat in food, so that diseases like heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure can be prevented."

"Restaurants and eateries are being encouraged to prepare healthy dishes in collaboration with chefs and food experts and take care of nutritional balance. Under this campaign, awareness is being raised through flex banners, posters and digital mediums," he said.

He further said that to further strengthen food safety, the department has started the "Re-purpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO)" initiative.

"Under this, strict monitoring is being done to reduce the side effects of re-used oil and prevent it from entering the food chain again. Used oil will be collected through the aggregator network and recycled into biodiesel, soap and other non-food products. This will prevent heart disease, hypertension and liver-related diseases and will also keep the environment safe," he said.