Health Minister bans cookies from ministry

New Health minister Dr Harshwardhan has ordered a ban on all cookies in his ministry. The Health ministry has been instructed to ensure that now on no biscuits are to be served in official meetings of Health ministry.

Only healthy snacks like roasted chana, almonds, dates and walnuts to be served at meetings and in all ministry canteens as well, as per official orders issued on June 19.

The minister, officials said, has desired that the practise of ‘healthy eating’ should start right from the ministry in charge of the nation’s health as much as to send the right message as to practise what is preached.


The cookies alongside tea at meetings in the ministry, will now make way for legumes, roasted channa, almonds, dates and walnuts as per official orders issued on June 19.

Still further, even the departmental canteens have been asked not to stock cookies at all from now on and serve only ‘healthy snacks’. A previous order on not using plastic water bottles has also be reiterated to be implemented ‘in letter and spirit’.

Officials from the ministry confirmed to ET that the move was being made after Minister Dr Harshwardhan took the decision and asked for its immediate implementation.

The June 19 circular of the ministry says that the minister desired that “healthy snacks only are to be served in official meetings and biscuits are to be avoided”.

“Henceforth, therefore, biscuits shall not be dispensed through the Departmental canteen and healthy snacks only like Lobhiya Channa, Khajorr, Bhuna Channa, Badam and Akhrot’ will be served in official meetings in the department”, says the circular.

Managers of all departmental canteens, the protocol sections and all officials of the Health ministry have been informed on the ‘no cookies’ policy.

The minister is himself a qualified doctor- an ENT specialist. Even in his earlier stint as Health minister in 2014 when the Modi government came to power, Dr Harshwardhan had identified the prevalence of fast foods in school and office canteens as a target area for lifestyle improvement and towards decreasing the overall burden of diseases. The Health ministry has been asking schools to cut on junk food in canteens for several years now.

Increased consumption of junk food and processed foods along with other lifestyle changes are seen as the key reasons for increased prevalence of diseases like diabetes and heart ailments in India.