Tired of criticism about food served on trains, IRCTC gets...

Spurred by the constant criticism about the quality of food offered by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), for the first time in history the corporation has appointed a doctor as a medical consultant.

Appointed on an experimental basis, the medical consultant will advise on the health, hygiene and food safety practices of the IRCTC.

At the moment, the consultant will only oversee Mumbai. He will inspect the base kitchens for food served on trains and food plazas at stations.

He will also look into the health and hygiene of the staff at these places and other food safety issues. His mandate, for now, will not extend to the pantries in the trains.

"We have appointed a doctor, who has retired from the railways, on an experimental basis.

He will not be doing the job of a health or food inspector, but will value add to our services by advising us on health and hygiene related aspects of preparing food.

If the experiment is successful, we will replicate this in other places," said IRCTC group general manager Virender Singh.

The services of the medical consultant will be available twice a week. "We will try to utilise his services in whatever we can to improve our services," added Singh.

Under Inspection

Base kitchens at... Mumbai Central Kalyan