A Delhi man was disgusted to find a live centipede in his IRCTC meal and took to social media to highlight the issue of food safety recently. IRCTC says the incident took place last month and measures have been taken to prevent a repeat of such cases.
Aaraynsh Singh was dining at an IRCTC VIP Executive Lounge when he saw the centipede floating in his raita. He took a picture and shared it on the social media platform X in response to a post claiming that Indian Railways food quality has improved in recent years.
“Yes, for sure, Indian Railway food quality has improved, now they are serving raita with more protein,” Aaraynsh wrote on X, sharing a picture of the unexpected intruder swimming in his meal.
In follow-up posts, he explained that he noticed the centipede while dining at a VIP lounge run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
{{/usCountry}}In follow-up posts, he explained that he noticed the centipede while dining at a VIP lounge run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
{{/usCountry}}“This incident happened in one of the IRCTC VIP Executive Lounges, so you can imagine the quality in regular trains or pantry cars,” the Delhi resident wrote.
He added that after finding the live centipede in his raita, he warned other passengers in the lounge to steer clear of the contaminated food. Surprisingly, nobody paid heed to his warning.
“People are crazy. I found a live insect in the food served at one of the IRCTC lounges. I stood up and told everyone to check their food, Everyone came to see it, got angry at the administration about the unhygienic conditions, and then went back to eating the same food!” Aaraynsh wrote.
IRCTC responds
Food hygiene issues in Indian Railways have been a longstanding concern, and social media users who came across Aaraynsh’s post were horrified by what they saw. While many called out IRCTC for the lack of hygiene, others pressed the Delhi man to lodge a complaint.
An IRCTC spokesperson told HT.com that the incident took place last month, and punitive action was taken against the service provider when the incident came to light. Measures have been taken to prevent further such cases.
“The incident is an old one and the issue raised was promptly attended by the service staff at the unit,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “However, punitive action has been taken against service provider. Detailed and thorough inspection of the unit is being conducted and corrective action is being taken to avoid re-occurrence of such incident in future.”
IRCTC also responded to the X post with a promise to look into the issue. “Sir, inconvenience regretted.Kindly share receipt/booking details , station name along with mobile no for immediate action,” the official X account of IRCTC responded.