Indian Railways are a very big organization. It is impossible to cover all its activities in one review. For the purpose of this review I have selected railway catering services. In other words I will try to examine how safe is the food served to passengers travelling by trains run by Indian railways.
Passengers consume various food items during their journey. Many passengers carry with them food items prepared at home and consume them during the journey. Then there are vendors and food stalls/plazas approved by railways who supply food items on platforms and also on trains. Food items are also served in refreshment rooms on platforms.
On many trains food items are served by pantry car. There are also a large number of unapproved vendors serving food items on platforms and on the trains. Then are the food items served by Indian Railways Catering Organization. One such organization is Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) which is a public sector company set up and fully owned by the Ministry of Railways. IRCTC runs catering services through their own employees and also through contractors.
If you ask passengers about the quality of food served and manner of serving during their journey you will find a mixed response. Some will have complaints to make and some will express general satisfaction. All these responses are based on the fact whether they fell ill or not after the journey. Most of the passengers in India will also say that once you are in journey you can not expect home like food.
Hardly you will find a passenger who had examined the issue from quality and safety point of view. I accept that for a long time I also used to think like this. But due to my current profession of providing training and consultancy on management systems including food safety management systems, I have gained a large experience on this aspect of quality and safety of food. Through this review I wish to share my experience with MS members.
If you visit the Website of IRCTC, you will only find material related to booking of tickets and a horde of advertisements. No direct reference is available about catering although the name of the organization has the word catering. At the bottom of Home Page you will find a toolbar giving three links. Indianrailways.gov.in is the official Website of Indian railways. It also does not provide any information on catering. Then there is a link to ?Air Tickets to India?. In the middle you will find the link to ?Other IRCTC activities?.
When you click on this, you will see a list of these other activities. One out of these is ?Empanelment for on board catering in Trains, Management of Food Plazas and Refreshment Rooms over Indian Railways?. Click on this and you will see an advertisement ?A Grand Business Opportunity? stating terms and conditions for empanelment. One of these conditions is ? ?In addition, the organization must have strict quality control mechanism with mandatory external food quality and hygiene audit comparable with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) or equivalent Good Industry Practices.? Friends this is the result of my extensive search ? the only reference I could find on Indian Railway Websites on food safety.
Now let me talk something about this food safety. Food safety management systems are based on the concept of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). In simple language we can describe it as ?ugaane se khaane tak? or in English as ?from field to dining table?. In other words under this system quality and safety of food is ensured at every stage of procurement of raw materials, production, packing, transportation, storage and consumption.
This is ensured through systems of various practices, such as, Good Agricultural Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices, Good Laboratory Practices, Good Hygienic Practices. Safety means preventing any form of contamination in food ? Physical, Chemical, Microbiological. If you remember incidents of finding pesticides in packaged drinking water and other cold drinks ? it was chemical contamination. In case of living organisms found in Cadbury chocolates- it was microbiological contamination.
During my recent trip to Chandigarh on Shatabdi Express I noticed that the paper placed in the food tray had this matter printed on it ? ?Indian Railway?s First ISO 9001: 2000 & HACCP Certified Catering Organization?. Paper packets containing spoon, fork, knife, and tea kit were also printed with this statement. It was a pleasant surprise for me. It is a matter of pride for any Indian that Indian Railways are giving so much importance to safety of food being served to passengers on the train. It has also aroused my interest, as it is not an easy job to Implement ISO 9001and HACCP on a running train.
The first thing I wanted to know was the name of the agency, which has audited the systems and certified them to ISO 9001and HACCP standards. I tried my level best but could not learn the name of that organization. Waiters belong to a contractor?s organization and were not aware of what ISO 9001and HACCP mean. So was the case with train executives.
The manner of serving food was also not of required standards. It has killed my joy. I wanted to find out more. I sent e-mail to IRCTC but received no reply. I searched the Websites and found only a passing reference to food safety.
All this has created a doubt in my mind about the credibility of this claim of Indian Railways, being first ISO 9001:2000 and HACCP certified organization, and also the quality and safety of food. There are so many items served, tea, sugar, milk powder, samosa, biscuits, toffees, butter, jam, tomato ketchup, cooked vegetables, dal, rice, soup, roti. All these items are supplied by different organizations.
How their quality and safety are ensured. Also how the personal hygiene is ensured when people are not aware of the system. I do not want to spoil pleasure of eating in Shatabdi Express but this is the situation I thought I should share with you.
I am still searching and any information if found I will share with you. In the meantime, carry your own food even if the charge of food served in Shatabdi Express is included in your ticket.