Railways step up efforts to improve onboard catering
26 May 2018
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Indian Railways has initiated a series of measures to improve the quality of onboard catering. To start with all vendors who sell food on railway premises will need to be registered with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
This would include petty retailers, hawkers, temporary stalls or those who supply foodstuff and beverages with an annual turnover upto Rs12 lakh or those whose food production capacity does not exceed 100 kg/ litres per day.
Corrently, a licence is mandatory for food business operators involved in catering services who have an annual turnover exceeding Rs12 lakh per year.
Online registration for vendors will start within 15 days.
All vendors would undergo third-party audits.
Each division of Indian Railways will have food safety officer (FSO) and 300 health inspectors across Indian Railways will be deployed to assist the food safety officers.
The railways will also create a data bank of caterers and food suppliers over its entire network by 15 July, with details of vendors, online registration details and food sample tests.
Divisonal railway managers and the senior divisional commercial offocer will be put in-charge of the data bank at the division level and chief commercial manager at the zonal level.
FSSAI and Indian Railways have decided to adopt a revised protocol for sample selection for food sample test, with an increase in the frequency of data collection will increase and surprise sample collections. This information will be included in the data bank.
According to the railway board, which is the apex decision-making body in the ministry of railways, says a mobile app will be developed for sample collection with geo tagging technology .
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