The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will provide food to ensure quality checks because during the suspected poisoning episode it was outsourced to a third party.

Mumbai: Following complaints about the quality of food provided by private contractors onboard the super luxury train, the Mumbai-Goa Tejas Express; the railways have decided to take over the food supply starting from January 15. The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will provide food to ensure quality checks because during the suspected poisoning episode it was outsourced to a third party.  

In October of last year, 15 passengers reported experiencing diarrhoea and nausea after eating the lunch from Ratnagiri, Although the food was tested later and not found to have been the cause behind the alleged poisoning, officials said that the number of food orders has seen a considerable drop post the incident, said officials.

Post the incident, the IRCTC has decided they will not outsource the premier train’s food anymore and instead will serve the same from its kitchens that are located on the train’s route, that is CSMT and Ratnagiri. The Tejas Express runs from CSMT to Madgaon and was introduced in July 2017. IRCTC chief public relations officer, Pinakin Morawala confirmed the initiative and said, “We will begin the supply of food directly from our base kitchen from January 15, this way we will be to assure the quality of the food and leave no doubt that anything stale is not sent in the breakfast or the lunch packages.”

Other than Tejas, three other trains - Ernakulam, Hyderabad Duranto and Howrah Mail will be provided food from CSMT base kitchen. In October of last year, 15 passengers reported experiencing diarrhoea and nausea after eating the lunch from Ratnagiri, the train was coming towards CSMT.  — AB