Vijayawada: Annavaram Railway station bags ‘Eat Right Station’ certification

Vijayawada : South Central Railway’s Annavaram Railway Station bagged the prestigious Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) ‘Eat Right Station’ certification for implementing the best hygienic and safe food practices in service to esteemed passengers. With this, the temple town station, Annavaram has become the first station in Vijayawada Division and second in SCR Zone after Hyderabad (Nampally) station to bag the ‘Eat Right Station’ certification.

The ‘Eat Right Station’ certification is granted by FSSAI to Railway Stations for adhering to standard food storage and hygiene practices and for providing high-quality, nutritious food to rail passengers.

To achieve this certification, the officials had initially nominated the Annavaram Railway Station, being the abode of sacred religious shrine, attracting heavy footfall on a daily basis. After the due nomination process, the catering vendors and stall owners and food handlers were trained under the FOSTAC (Food Safety Training and Certification) programme as per FSSAI standards.

All the parameters like food safety, hygiene standards, personal hygiene of vendors, protective gear, and expiry dates of food products, temperature control and garbage disposal, segregation of wet and dry waste were taken into account and monitored continuously. Initially a pre-audit was conducted and finally a FSSAI empanelled third party audit was conducted. After complete monitoring and evaluation for six months, Annavaram Railway Station achieved its ‘Eat Right Station’ Certification.

Divisional Railway Manager Narendra A Patil congratulated Vavilapalli Rambabu, Sr DCM, P Chandrasekhar, DO (Safety), Rahamathulla, FSO (Catering) and Commercial team of Vijayawada Division for their exemplary efforts in bagging the prestigious FSSAI ‘Eat Right Station’ Certification. He said that the ‘Eat Right India’ movement is a large-scale effort by FSSAI to transform the country’s food system to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable food for all Indians.