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Railways Crackdown: Rs 5.13 crore fine imposed, 6 food contracts terminated over quality violations

Regular and surprise inspections are conducted by Railway/IRCTC officials, including Food Safety Officers, to ensure quality, hygiene, safety and regulatory compliance.

Written by: Joy Pillai Edited by: Joy Pillai
Published: August 7, 2026, 10:58 PM IST

New Delhi: The Railway Ministry reported that food quality complaints account for just 0.0008 percent of cases on average. Since 2023, IRCTC has taken strict action against violators such as imposing Rs 5.13 crore in fines, issuing 54 show-cause notices, canceling six contracts and debarring licenses for poor hygiene and food standards.

Regular and surprise inspections are conducted by Railway/IRCTC officials, including Food Safety Officers, to ensure quality, hygiene, safety and regulatory compliance. These inspections cover key aspects such as food safety, staff deployment, equipment maintenance, cleanliness and adherence to prescribed standards while promoting best practices in food handling, storage and preparation.

Railways said it has taken steps to improve quality, hygiene and food safety.

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“Supply of meals from designated Base Kitchens, Commissioning of modern Base Kitchens at identified locations, installation of CCTV Cameras in Base Kitchens for real time and better monitoring of food preparation, shortlisting and use of popular and branded raw materials for food production, deployment of Food Safety Supervisors at Base Kitchens to monitor food safety and hygienic practices, deployment of on-board IRCTC supervisors on trains, introduction of QR codes on meal packets supplied in trains to enhance food safety, transparency and passenger awareness,” it said.

“The QR code provides details regarding date of packing, name of the licensee and FSSAI license number, for information of passengers,” they added.

The details given by Union Railways Minister, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, in a question asked in the upper house of the Parliament.

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