Food auditing firms to conduct quality checks on trains, Railways Ministry

Following constant passenger complaint about food served on trains, Railways has decided to deploy international food auditing firms who do quality checks at five star hotels to do its quality assessment. As a pilot project at present, a Swedish company is carrying out third-party audit of the food and hygiene on the premium trains on the Mumbai-Howrah route. It will present its report to the Railway Ministry on November 5. "There are renowned multinational auditing firms who do quality audits for five star hotels. Once the ministry gets the report for this, it will formalise this policy and call for tenders for all trains. The firms will not only check quality and quantity of food served but will also assess the condition in which the food is made and served, and the hygiene standards. After rolling out a new menu with reduced food items and at the same time jacking up their prices on Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains on October 17, Railways quickly reverted to the old menu because passengers had been complaining of getting "too less for more money". The ministry also said the ticket prices increased due to the changed menu, however, will remain the same for now.