Visakhapatnam railway station has been certified as ‘Eat Right Station’ by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for providing quality and nutritious food to passengers. It is the 7th railway station in the country and only one in Andhra Pradesh to get this recognition based on third party audit.
The railway station has 38 catering stalls, a Food Court, a Jan Aahar, one fast food unit and 15 water vending units. The other railway stations which are ahead of Visakhapatnam to get the 4-Star rating are Chandigarh Railway Station, Anand Vihar Terminal Railway Station (Delhi), Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Mumbai), Mumbai Central Railway Station (Mumbai), Vadodara Railway Station and Bhubaneswar station.
The certification is part of the ‘Eat Right India’ movement, an effort by FSSAI to promote safe, healthy and sustainable food. Eat Right India adopts a judicious mix of regulatory, capacity building, collaborative, and empowerment approaches to ensure that our food is suitable both for the people and the planet.
Divisional Railway Manager Anup Satpathy said that the 4-Star rating was an indication of the efforts made by the railway authorities in ensuring the availability of safe and hygienic food to passengers. All the catering stalls at Visakhapatnam railway station are provided with food license certificates. The vendors also have medical fitness certificates and adhere strictly to the norms.
“The coveted certificate makes us more responsible to ensure this standard of hygiene and food quality in future at the station. Efforts are also being made to improve the food quality at other stations, of the division, and get them included in the ‘Eat Right Station’ category. The certificate, awarded by FSSAI to railway stations, sets the benchmark for providing safe and wholesome food to passengers,” he said. “An FSSAI empanelled third party audit agency conducted a survey at the railway station for seven days in February this year. The parameters chosen include food quality, hygiene and the entire chain including the waste disposal,” said Senior Divisional Commercial Manager A.K. Tripathi.
The certificate is valid up to May 18, 2024.
