Railways printing barcodes on food packets, kitchen names, to tackle complaints

New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) Faced with complaints of poor quality food, the Railways has begun printing barcodes on the food packets and providing other details like name of the kitchen and date of packaging.

The measures, which have been initiated in some places, are to be taken across the country, Minister Piyush Goyal told the Lok Sabha in reply to a question.

Other measures to improve food quality are roping in branded food providers to provide e-catering services on trains, deploying food safety supervisors in kitchen units to monitor food safety and hygiene practices, and surprise inspections by railway officials, including food safety officers, he said.

In order to improve the catering services, and provide safe, healthy and quality food to passengers, a new catering policy was issued on February 27, 2017.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) also upgraded 46 kitchen units in the last two years, and installed CCTV cameras in 38 base kitchens for monitoring the food preparation. 

Web-based live streaming facility is being extended to these kitchens, Goyal said.

To upgrade the quality of meals to be served to passengers, menus are being rationalized by IRCTC, he added.

He said the Railways has not set up any committee to conduct an enquiry regarding food quality. However, third party audits are conducted by IRCTC to check the quality of food on trains.

He acknowledged that "some complaints" are received from time to time regarding quality of food which are "appropriately addressed".