New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) Ninety seven per cent of BSF personnel are satisfied with the quantity and quality of food provided to them while they are deployed on the borders, a DRDO study said.

The Border Security Force (BSF) had last year decided to get an independent study conducted regarding the food and nutrients provided to its personnel deployed on borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh after a trooper aired grievances regarding the quality of food.

The study — conducted by the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Science (DIPAS), with participants under eight frontiers with different terrain and geographical area — showed that 97 per cent are satisfied with quantity and quality of food, the BSF said in a statement.

“The study has recorded average energy expenditure to be 3,400 to 3,500 kilo-calories per day, while energy intake was around 3,450 (plus/minus 335) kilo-calories per day.

“The report registered that food was able to provide all macro and micronutrients as per recommended dietary allowance of ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research),” it added.

In January last year, a BSF trooper had publicly complained regarding the quality of food made available to soldiers deployed on borders. The issue caught media attention and received wide coverage.

In February, DIPAS had initiated the study for determining nutrient requirements of BSF personnel and adequacy of their diet under condition of deployment along with determination of their food satisfaction level.

For the study, data of food preference and satisfaction level was collected from 6,526 personnel from eight frontiers (four each of Western and Eastern Command) and focused group discussion was conducted at 37 different unit mess and cook houses visited by the study group.

The security force said the assessment of food and nutrient intake was done by food analysis, body composition, haematological profile, biochemical variable analysis, clinical examination and handgrip test.

“The complete data were put to statistical analysis to draw conclusions,” it said.

DIPAS is the nutritional advisory to Indian Armed Forces in terms of determining calorie nutrient requirements of soldiers deployed under different environment all over the country.

The institute, under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), also does periodical reviews of ration scales of nutritional adequacy.

–IANS
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