Several passengers on board the Puri-Howrah Shatabdi fell ill after eating the breakfast served by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation on Wednesday, IANS reported.
The South Eastern Railways Chief Public Relations Officer Sanjoy Ghosh said it was unlikely that the meal served by the railway catering service had triggered the reaction.
“Samples of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’s food has been sent for testing,” Ghosh said. “We can confirm whether it had anything bad in it after the report comes out. However, it is unlikely because nearly 500 passengers in the train were served the same food while a small proportion of them complained of food poisoning.”
The train was detained at the Kharagpur station for around one hour. Some of the passengers agitated against IRCTC for serving substandard food on board. “I felt uneasy after having the breakfast. A kid near my berth started vomiting,” said a passenger.
The IRCTC’s eastern zone chief, Debashish Chandra, said that 15 people were admitted to the Kharagpur railway hospital for treatment, The Times of India reported. Chandra said they had launched an inquiry into the matter.
Media reports quoted some of the passengers who said they fell ill after eating the bread and omelette breakfast meal that the IRCTC had served.