The Nashik Zilla Parishad (ZP) has launched an investigation after a beneficiary family in Niphad taluka allegedly found a dead bird inside a sealed supplementary nutrition packet distributed through an anganwadi centre.
The incident came to light after the family opened the packet, supplied under the government’s nutrition programme, to prepare a meal. The packet had been distributed by the Indira Nagar Anganwadi Centre to beneficiaries Prince Sukhdev Mali and Ganesh Sukhdev Mali.
Following the complaint, district authorities seized the packet and sent it to a government laboratory for scientific examination. Officials said the tests will determine the nature of the contamination, the condition of the bird and whether it entered the packet during processing, packaging or at a later stage.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer Pratap Patil, along with senior officials from the Women and Child Development Department, visited the village, conducted a spot inspection and completed a panchnama.
Patil said the object found inside the packet appeared to be a cooked bird, but emphasised that the administration would wait for the laboratory findings before reaching any conclusion or initiating legal action.
Officials said the packet, packed in June and distributed on July 14, contained a dry mixture of tur dal and rice, making the presence of a cooked bird highly unusual. Departmental sources noted that the nutrition packets are meant to contain only raw ingredients.
As part of the probe, authorities have collected additional nutrition packets from other beneficiaries in the village for quality checks. No similar incidents have been reported so far.
Pending the laboratory report, the district administration has suspended further distribution of the nutrition packets in the affected area as a precautionary measure.
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