Karnataka Government Moves to Ban Junk Food in Schools and Government Hospitals; Health Minister

By Editor

Posted on July 18, 2026

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Karnataka Government Moves to Ban Junk Food in Schools and Government Hospitals; Health Minister

Mangaluru : In a major healthcare policy move, Karnataka’s Minister for Health and Family Welfare, U.T. Khader, announced that the state government is actively taking steps to ban junk foods, including burgers and pizzas, across all government hospitals and schools catering up to the 10th standard. The Minister underscored that the rising consumption of these unhealthy food items has become a primary catalyst for numerous chronic diseases. He made these statements while presiding over the grievance redressal and development review meeting held on Saturday at the RAPCC (Regional Advanced Paediatric Care Centre) auditorium within the Wenlock District Hospital premises in Mangaluru.

To orchestrate a radical transformation in the state’s food safety ecosystem, the Minister revealed that the government is systematically upgrading the existing food testing laboratory in Bengaluru. The upgraded, state-of-the-art laboratory will be equipped with advanced diagnostic technologies capable of generating foolproof, indisputable scientific data. Minister Khader emphasized that regardless of how prominent or financially powerful a junk food manufacturing company might be, if lapses in food quality are detected, the legal evidence compiled by this modern facility will ensure the state remains legally bulletproof, even if the errant multinational brands choose to challenge the findings before the Supreme Court. High-level preparatory meetings with relevant departmental top brass have already been conducted to expedite this project.

The Health Minister pointed out that recent spot inspections and random sampling across various commercial supermarkets have exposed a worrying reality where even highly celebrated international food brands fail to comply with basic food safety standards. He warned that non-communicable, life-threatening ailments such as chronic kidney disease and various forms of cancer are witnessing a massive surge primarily due to the modern lifestyle defined by unhygienic and malnourished diet patterns. By introducing strict regulatory interventions and ensuring access to nutritional meals in schools, the government aims to insulate children early on from the addiction to junk foods. Furthermore, the campus canteens of all state-run healthcare institutions will be structurally modified to serve strictly wholesome items, and the Minister openly invited valuable inputs and recommendations from the general public to refine this initiative.

Focusing on the immediate implementation, Minister Khader directed the administrative board of Mangaluru’s historic Wenlock District Hospital to take the lead by launching a pilot healthy canteen setup that serves highly nutritious food at heavily subsidized, affordable rates for the benefit of duty doctors, paramedical staff, and patients. He instructed the district health officers to establish the Wenlock model as a gold standard in institutional dietary management so that the exact blueprint can be seamlessly replicated across all other government medical colleges, district hospitals, and healthcare institutions throughout the state of Karnataka in the coming months.