Overview
- Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament on March 19 that QR-enabled identity cards are now mandatory for onboard catering staff, vendors and helpers.
- The ID codes link to each worker’s details, including name, Aadhaar number, medical fitness and police verification, enabling instant authenticity checks by passengers and officials.
- Food packets now carry QR labels showing the originating kitchen and date of preparation or manufacture for digital traceability of meals served on trains.
- Unauthorised hawking in passenger areas remains an offence under Section 144 of the Railways Act, with designated officials and the Railway Protection Force conducting regular inspections and special drives.
- Complementary measures continue, including meals from designated base kitchens, CCTV monitoring, use of branded ingredients, deployment of Food Safety Supervisors, mandatory FSSAI certification, third‑party audits, food sampling and IRCTC training.