After blade, insect found in Air India in-flight meal

The in-flight meal in which the insect was found

Days after a metal blade was found in a meal served on an Air India flight, a passenger travelling from Cochin to Dubai via the airline experienced an unpleasant surprise when he discovered an insect in his dessert.

On discovering the insect, the flier, Tomy Frank, informed the cabin crew. "They immediately apologised for the incident and replaced the dessert. What I am really curious about is how did the insect end up in the dessert. I had read reports about a blade being found in an Air India in-flight meal a few days back and now this. How are we supposed to have faith that food served by the airline is fit to eat?" said Frank, who posted about his experience on X on Friday morning.

Passenger Tomy Frank's post on X

He added, "What action is the airline going to initiate in light of these incidents, which have become the new normal? I'm not sure about the number of instances of abnormal objects being found in Air India in-flight food but based on research I did after this incident, there were more than five such incidents in the past few months, which is concerning."

The blade incident occurred on June 9. The passenger concerned, Mathures Paul, said, "I was travelling from Bangalore to San Francisco. In the bowl of fig chaat, they served a blade. I realised it was in my food after chewing it for two or three seconds. As soon as I spat it out, I realised what the object was." He added, "The stewardess apologised for exactly three seconds and came back with a bowl of chickpeas. First, it is dangerous to have a blade on any flight. Secondly, it could have cut through my tongue. Thirdly, what if a child was eating this food?"

In response to the recent incident, Air India released a statement on X, stating, "Dear Mr Frank, we always try to ensure quality standards are met at every step of our meal service. However, we are sorry to note your experience. We never want our passengers to face such inconvenience." Calls and messages to the Air India spokesperson went unanswered by press time.

Air India served show-cause notice

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) earlier this month issued a show-cause notice to Air India for violations of provisions of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) and causing discomfort to passengers. The notice reads, "Air India is time and again failing in taking due care of passengers and compliance of CAR... It has come to our notice that flight AI-179 dated May 24 and AI-183 dated May 30 were inordinately delayed and passengers were put to discomfort due to insufficient cooling in the cabin... Repeated incidents of passengers being put to discomfort by Air India in violation of CAR provisions have come to notice."