Kolkata: Long before the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) banned "unhealthy junk food" in school canteens, some of best schools in Kolkata had already gone healthy.

At The Heritage School, children are not allowed to carry any food from home. The school dietitian ensures that every serving in the canteen has adequate amount of vitamins, protein and essential minerals. "We don't serve chips or aerated drinks. Any packet of chips we find is confiscated ," said principal Seema Sapru, adding: "Our food is vegetarian and burgers are made with brown bread or multigrain bread."The school even has a special counter for khichdi, dal, bland sabzi, fruits, salads and soups.

Lakshmipat Singhania Academy is careful about nutrition but allows a day of "healthy-junk". "On Fridays, we serve sandwiches, burgers, pasta and pizza but with a lot of veggies and fruits. The rest of the days we serve idli, vada, paratha-sabzi, and chawal-dal-sabzi. No aerated drinks are allowed. Instead, we serve chhaas or fruit juice," said principal Meena Kak.

Students can't concentrate because they don't take nutritious food, she rues. "If there is a ban on sale of junk food within 50m of schools, as proposed by FSSAI, it will force students to have nutritious food," she said.

At The Future Foundation School, the focus is on a healthy twist. "We sneak in vegetables in our canteen menu - for instance our chicken wrap is made of wheat and the filling has peas, carrots and cabbage. We put shredded carrot in biryani, too, and kids scarcely notice it. Even our chicken pakoras are healthier because we use wheat in the batter and slip veggies into the pakoda as well. We have only healthy beverages, like lassi, iced green tea and lemonade. Colas, pizzas and burgers are banned," said vice-principal Krishnokoli Mukherjee

Supriyo Dhar, secretary of Board of Governors of La Martiniere School for Boys and Girls said, "Aerated drinks and chips are not allowed on campus. In the junior school, strict instruction is issued to parents not to send chocolates, pastries or even sandesh. If FSSAI comes up with such directives, it will help us."

At Modern High School, director Devi Kar feels that childhood is lost if on occasion, a student is not allowed to bring aachar or samosa. "Voluntarily and consciously, we don't serve fast food or aerated drinks. Instead, our canteens offer idli and mango drink, which is better than aerated drinks," she said.