Bread served on Shatabdi Express was unsafe, says WR internal probe

An internal investigation by Western Railways (WR) into complaints of stale bread and butter being served on the Mumbai- Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express on January 7,

An internal investigation by Western Railways (WR) into complaints of stale bread and butter being served on the Mumbai- Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express on January 7, found that the bread was “unsafe” and contained fungus, while the butter was fine but was served without proper packaging. The Indian Railway Catering Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which is responsible for catering on Shatabdi Express, has fined the contractor ~2 lakh as penalty and will terminate the contract.

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Thirty-six passengers had alleged they were served stale bread and butter on board the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express on January 7. A committee was instituted on January 8 to look into the complaints and it submitted its report on January 16 to Western Railway.

According to the committee, four passengers needed medical assistance at Surat railway station after eating the bread and butter served on Shatabdi Express. “Sample of bread was found unsafe. There is no fungal in the same of butter.” states the report.

IRCTC manages the catering for 81 outstation trains operating in western India, including Maharashtra and Gujarat. It runs two base kitchens in Mumbai –at Mumbai Central and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) – which are operated by contractors who provide meals for premium outstation trains, including Shatabdi, Rajdhani and August Kranti Express. IRCTC has food inspectors at the kitchens who are present while the food is being prepared. Samples of the meals are kept in a separate fridge for 72 hours, in case quality-related complaints are raised by passengers.

A senior IRCTC official said the on-board inspector on the Shatabadi Express had noticed the food being served was past its expiry date. “The on-board IRCTC supervisor had noticed a few bread packets had exceeded the expiry date and he had directed the contractor to immediately pull off the entire batch, but by then commuters had already been served the bread,” said a senior IRCTC official.

The on-board supervisor from IRCTC is supposed to taste the meals first and only after their approval should the food be served to passengers. The supervisor also inspects the storage facility on board and gives a report on the same to the IRCTC. If there are complaints raised by passengers, these are included in the report and taken up with the contractor or the zonal railway.

In case of questions regarded food quality or overcharging by contractors, the IRCTC may penalise contractors, carry out surprise inspections and even terminate the contract.