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Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts

Saturday, 30 May 2020

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Sunday, 12 April 2020

13:55

IRCTC Free Hot Cooked Meals Distributed to Needy Persons

IRCTC Free Hot Cooked Meals Distributed to Needy Persons
No. 27/2020-21
12-04-2020
Secunderabad
More than 1 million free hot cooked meals distributed to needy persons by Indian Railways
Meals distributed during lockdown due to COVID-19; at 313 locations 
IRCTC, RPF rise upto meet the challenge of providing free meals along with Zonal Railways, GRP, NGOs
Indian Railways staff from a number of Railway organizations like IRCTC, RPF, Zonal Railways and others have worked tirelessly to keep alive the Railways’ commitment of social service by selflessly and voluntarily providing hot cooked meals to needy people after the lockdown due to COVID-19. Railways has been providing bulk cooked food with paper plates for lunch and food packets for dinner through IRCTC base kitchens, RPF resources and contribution of NGOs since 28th March 2020.
Meal distributioncrossed the o­ne million mark today with a total of nearly 10.2 lacs. The food distribution is being done to the poor,children, coolies, migrant labourers, stranded persons and whoever else comes in search of food at and near the railway stations, and even at some distances away from the railway stations. While delivering the food to needy persons, social distancing and hygiene is being observed.
With the active cooperation of IRCTC base kitchens in New Delhi, Bangalore, Hubli, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad, Bhusaval, Howrah, Patna, Gaya, Ranchi, Katihar, DeenDayal Upadhyaya Nagar, Balasore, Vijaywada, Khurda, Katpadi, Tiruchirapalli, Dhanbad, Guwahati, Samastipur, Prayagraj, Itarsi, Vishakhapatnam, Chengalpatu, Pune, Hajipur, Raipur and Tatanagar spread over various zones such as Northern, Western, Eastern, Southern and South Central, nearly 10.2.lacs cooked meals had been distributed till yesterday 10th April 2020. Of these, over 60 percent cooked meals have been provided by IRCTC, about 2.3 lacs meals have been provided by RPF from its own resources and nearly 2 lac meals have been donated by NGOs working with the Railway organizations.
Distribution of food is being done with the help of RPF, GRP, commercial departments of Zones, State Governments and NGOs. GMs/DRMs of concerned Zone and division are also in continuous touch with IRCTC officials to enhance the outreach of these efforts of IRCTC even beyond the station vicinity to cater to the food requirements of needy people in areas surrounding the railway stations with the help of District Administrations and NGOs.
The Railway Protection Force has played a major role in the food distribution to needy people prepared by IRCTC, NGOs and from its own kitchens. Starting with distribution of food to 5419 needy persons over 74 locations o­n 28.03.2020, the number has grown daily. Approximately 6.5 lacs meals have been distributed by RPF over 313 locations till yesterday. The distribution of meals include a good portion of what is made by IRCTC as well.
It may be recalled that Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Shri Piyush Goyal had exhorted the Railway personnel to widen the outreach of their efforts in providing food and other assistance to the needy people. Following this, IRCTC staff also deposited Rs 20 Crore in PMCARES fund – Rs 1.5 Crore from CSR fund of 2019-20, Rs 6.5 Crore from CSR fund of 2020-21 and Rs 12 Crore donation. The contribution has also drawn praise from Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi who has tweeted “I laud the @IRCTCofficial family for their contribution to defeat Coronavirus. #IndiaFightsCorona”

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Tuesday, 7 April 2020

20:20

Central Railway will run 4 parcel trains (50 trips) between CSMT and Nagpur And some More Destinations Chennai,Shalimar,Wadi for sending essential commodities like medical, food, etc.

Central Railway will run 4 parcel trains (50 trips) between CSMT and Nagpur And some  More Destinations Chennai,Shalimar,Wadi for sending essential commodities like medical, food, etc.

Central Railway will run 4 parcel trains (50 trips) between CSMT and Nagpur/Chennai/Shalimar/Wadi for sending essential commodities like medical, food, etc. Parcel loaders & e-commerce companies who want to send essential commodities may like to avail this opportunity. #COVID19

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Saturday, 16 September 2017

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07:41

Soon, tablets for passengers to record feedback on meals on trains

Soon, tablets for passengers to record feedback on meals on trains
Passengers can record their feedback through an online form on the tablets to be provided by the Railways
Good, bad or ugly — passengers on premium trains will soon be able to rate on tablets the food they eat under a scheme to be launched soon, a senior official said today.
They can record their feedback through an online form on the tablets to be provided by the Railways, the official said.

Around 100 tablets have so far been given by the Railways to on-board supervisors of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) in different railway zones for recording customer feedback on food quality, staff behaviour and other related issues, the official said.
The tablet was used on a trial basis for the first time on the Ahmedabad-Delhi Rajdhani yesterday. The system would be formally launched on the Mumbai Rajdhani in a couple of weeks, IRCTC chief spokesperson Pinakin Morawala said.
"This will help us be more specific with the redress of complaints and suggestions. We will be able to gauge the rate of customer satisfaction as well as grade the suggestions," he said.
The Railways is also looking at an offline version of the scheme to deal with erratic networks or Internet problems.
The software on the tablet records the name, phone number and train details of the passenger. Then it poses a series of questions to determine the food experience on the journey.
Currently, IRCTC takes feedback either on an on-board suggestion book, or through its twitter handle. Passengers can also call 139 to complain about the quality of food.
These methods will continue to be available along with the new system, Morawala said.
In the new system, passengers would be asked to rate different aspects of the food being served — on quality, quantity, presentation, staff behaviour and overall satisfaction — on a scale of 1-5.
If the rating is three or less on any count, the passenger is asked further questions on specific problem areas — taste, appearance and others.
"As of now, we are targeting 10 per cent of passengers in a train for feedback. Eventually, we might increase our target," said Morawala.
The feedback forms have a separate box where passengers can recount their individual experiences and details not captured by the set queries.
Once recorded, passengers will get a message on their mobile phones, thanking them for the feedback and checking if the information provided to the Railways is genuine. This would ensure that the feedback is not being manipulated.
IRCTC as of now has 40 trains under it and initially, this feedback system will be introduced in the premium trains — Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi — that they operate.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Friday, 7 July 2017

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Tuesday, 28 February 2017

19:25

Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Third Amendment Regulation, 2017

Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Third Amendment Regulation, 2017

Press Note

Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Third Amendment Regulation, 2017

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has notified the Final Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulation, 2017 in the official gazette of India w.r.t microbiological requirements for fish and fishery products. This regulation prescribes revised microbiological requirements for sea foods and covers new varieties of fish and fisheries products, maximum permissible limits of hygiene indicator organisms and safety indicator organisms in vide range of fish and fishery products. In addition, the regulation also prescribes the sampling plan and reference test methods for microbiological parameters. These standards have been finalised after consideration of the comments received from stakeholders in this respect and shall come into force on 1st January, 2018.
The revised microbiological standards are aimed at ensuring quality and food safety of sea food produce in the domestic market.


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Thursday, 14 April 2016

08:15

Good news for Indian Railways passengers! Home Cook Food during Train Journey

Good news for Indian Railways passengers! Home Cook Food during Train Journey

Good news for Indian Railways passengers! Now they can look forward to enjoying home cooked food which is supplied by self-help groups during their train journey.
According to Railways, a pilot project has been launched in the Konkan region of Maharashtra for supply of local cuisine by SHGs to train travellers.
“We have entered into a partnership with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to facilitate SHGs of farmers to supply local meals to train passengers,” Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), A K Manocha said.
As per the arrangement, two stations in the Konkan region – Kudal and Sawantwadi – have been identified for the pilot project.
Passengers will have to order the meal online through IRCTC website during their journey.
Manocha said a similar initiative has been launched in Kerala also and plans are there to extend it to all over the country.
IRCTC will rope in SHGs for supply of home-cooked local meals on trains in other stations as well, he said.
The pilot project is part of the railway budget 2016-17 announcement by Minister Suresh Prabhu to explore the possibility of giving the choice of local cuisine to passengers.
Railways has launched the e-catering facility offering passengers options to book their meals online instead of depending on food supplied by contractors or pantry cars.

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Monday, 7 March 2016

06:45

Bengalureans Treat Themselves at Truck Food at Street Fiesta

Bengalureans Treat Themselves at Truck Food at Street Fiesta

BENGALURU:  Thousands of Bengalureans landed at Swami Vivekananda Road Metro station in Indiranagar on Saturday to relish the culinary delights on offer at the food trucks parked there.

The second day of the Food Truck Street Fiesta 2016 organised by the Bangalore Food Trucks Association  with the support of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation drew an overwhelming response with much of the food stuff in trucks being consumed by foodies by around 9.30 pm though the fest was to be open till 11 pm.

People waited patiently in queues for nearly half an hour in front of each of the eight trucks to buy food stuff. All kinds of snacks on skewers, six-inch subs, burgers, hot dogs, chicken wings, duck, turkey, vindaloo (gravy) and cuisine from all parts of the globe were relished by the visitors.

Software engineer M Girish and his 13-year-old daughter Avani had come all the way from Whitefield. “My daughter had heard of truck food online and watched it in movies. She insisted I bring her down today as soon as she heard such an event was on in the City,” Girish said.

“It is really cool, it is so different and everything really looks so tasty,” said Avani, standing in a long queue with her father.

Kinjal Majumdar, an analyst in a software firm, and his colleague Saathvika, who came to Indiranagar from Whitefield decided to stop by. “I am hearing of such a concept for the first time in Bengaluru. I’ve seen them in movies and wanted to experience it first-hand,” said Saathvika.

Varun Srikanth, spokesperson for BFTA, said the response was incredible. “It is really amazing. We never expected such a crowd,” he said. The organisation, formed just six months ago, has 28 truck food outlets on board now, he said.

“Food truck is a great alternative to street food. It is prepared at kitchens back home and is hygenic,” Srikanth declared.

The items, were billed as “reasonable” by many. 

Days open

All Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in March.

Open from

11 am to 11 pm

Entry: Free

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Sunday, 7 February 2016

07:43

Flourescent probes for rapid detection of formaldehyde in food

Flourescent probes for rapid detection of formaldehyde in food

In recent years, formaldehyde has been discovered to be illegally used in food processing for bleaching and preservation purposes, arousing health concerns by the general public. PolyU’s highly selective formaldehyde rapid detection method involves only simple procedures. It can test 10 food samples on-site in one go in comparison to traditional methods which entail 30 minutes for the testing of each food sample one by one. Its cost is less than HK$30, which is 90% lower than traditional testing methods. If the food sample contains formaldehyde, under hand-held UV light, the fluorescent probes will appear to be fluorescent blue, which can be easily observed by naked eyes.

Traditional methods of formaldehyde detection

Traditional methods for formaldehyde measurement are liquid chromatography which involves chemical derivation of formaldehyde, chromatographic separation and instrumental analysis of the formaldehyde content with reference to the sample standard. However, these methods require expensive instruments, sophisticated operational skills, tedious sample preparation and time-consuming analysis. Given their low testing through-put, the testing of 10 food samples would require up to 5 hours (10 X 30 minutes), making these methods not suitable for on-site food safety inspection. In addition, the test results of formaldehyde testing kits available in the market are easily interfered by irrelevant substances. Their low selectivity and stability make them difficult to satisfy the on-site food safety inspection and high through-put needs of the industry and authorities.

Flourescent probes for detection of formaldehyde

Based on prior research on a chemical reaction that enables chemical coupling of 1) amine-functionalized resins, 2) formaldehyde and 3) fluorescent dyes via gold catalysis, PolyU researchers have developed fluorescent probes for rapid detection of formaldehyde in food with excellent selectivity and high stability. Firstly, researchers added pre-treated food samples, amine-functionalized resins, fluorescent dyes and gold catalysts into a container, and heated the solution at 50 oC for 1 hour. After that, organic solvents were added to wash out excessive reagents. The three-component coupling reaction will connect resin-linked sterically bulky amines and fluorescent alkynes through chemical bonding with formaldehyde in food so that the surface of the resins will give out fluorescent blue colour under hand-held UV light. One can easily detect the formaldehyde concentration by observing the brightness of the fluorescent colour by naked eyes. Not only is the design and operation of PolyU’s invention simple, it does not require expensive instruments and sophisticated operational skills. It can test 10 food samples in one go, making it an ideal solution for on-site food safety inspection and front-line quality control. The research was conducted by ABCT in collaboration with Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

The related paper has been recently published in Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry, a leading journal in Organic Chemistry. A joint PolyU-GDCIQ China patent has been filed. The research team will continue to enhance the formaldehyde rapid detection method, which include developing a new class of tunable fluorescent dyes and developing high through-put rapid detection formats.

To know more, click here 

Source: Pddnet.com

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Tuesday, 5 August 2014

05:27

IRCTC ties up with Dadar catering college for better rail food

IRCTC ties up with Dadar catering college for better rail food

The 'achche din' promised by the NDA government has made a beginning at least in the much-needed railway pantry sector, with various departments of the national transporter trying to get their acts together. Close on the heels of the Central Railway authorities, calling a meeting with its pantry car operators to read them out a list of do's and don'ts, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has also got cracking on the job at hand.

In a first, it has tied up with the reputed Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology in Applied Nutrition, more famously called the Dadar Catering College, to enhance the skill-set of IRCTC catering staff deployed in premium trains like the Rajdhani and Duronto express.

The tie-up will see the institute creating a one-week skill management programme to give the staff an upgrade in food production and beverage service. The module will also include practical knowledge related to customer satisfaction, quality and hygiene.

These three facets of railway catering have been huge question marks for several years now and even the Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda in his budget speech alluded to the need to ensure that the food provided inside trains are priced as per the norms and have the quality intended by the railways.
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