Everyone will agree on a point that the food served by IRCTC while travelling on Indian Railways trains have always been of bad quality. This point had even attracted the attention of the government audit agency CAG, which had slammed Indian Railways for shoddy work and unhygienic food. Though late, the reprimand from the government over the poor quality food seems to have stirred things up. However, it has raised some concerns. Why? Well, when it comes to IRCTC food, Indian Railways is reportedly planning to go for quality over quantity.  The national transporter is likely to start this with premium trains such as the Rajdhanis and the Shatabdis, according to an Economic Times report. 

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What it boils down to is that now the meals will be all of 150 grams in terms of weight. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) may take items like sandwiches, soup, breadsticks and butter off the plate and instead it will serve full meals - passengers are likely to get vegetarian and non-vegetarian rice combos. It is unlikely to leave anyone hungry though!

A panel of catering experts has informed IRCTC that its meal trays are overladen. A catering experts panel reportedly highlighted that IRCTC, the catering arm of the Indian Railways, trays hold 900 grams of food per meal against 750 grams in a normal Indian diet. IRCTC receives only Rs 112 per passenger meal, while the actual cost of a full meal is over Rs 150 per plate, thus making losses on its catering services in various long-distancce trains.

 As IRCTC provides a large quantity of food at low cost, maintaining quality has become difficult, the report said, citing an Indian Railways official. The official said that the lower quantity will ensure higher quality of food is dished out to passengers. IRCTC has also proposed to cut down the quantity of dal from the current 150 gm to around 100 gm, it said. The proposal has been sent to the Railway Board.