Air India issues apology after passenger finds ‘foreign object’ in meal

New Delhi [India], September 28 (ANI): Air India issued an apology after a passenger on board from Delhi to New York had an unpleasant experience after finding a ‘foreign object’ in the inflight meal on September 17.

The Air India spokesperson said on Saturday, that they have raised the issue with the catering service provider to investigate it further and ensured to take necessary actions to prevent any recurrence of such instances in the future.

“We are aware of a social media post by a passenger regarding a foreign object in the onboard meal offered to them on AI 101 operating from DEL to JFK on 17 September 2024. Air India works with reputed caterers who supply to leading airlines globally and have stringent SOPs and multiple checks to ensure the quality of meals served to our guests,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

“We are concerned about the experience of the customer in the said instance and have taken it up with our catering service provider to investigate it further. We will take necessary actions to prevent any recurrence of such instances in future,” the statement added.

Earlier in June, a passenger, who was on an Air India flight from Bengaluru to San Francisco, shared a horrifying experience of finding an alleged metal blade in his flight meal.

Taking to ‘X’, the passenger wrote, “Air India food can cut like a knife. Hiding in its roasted sweet potato and fig chaat was a metal piece that looked like a blade. I got a feel of it only after chewing the grub for a few seconds.”

“Thankfully, no harm was done. Of course, the blame squarely lies with Air India’s catering service but the incident doesn’t help the image I have of Air India. What if the metal piece was in the food served to a child? The first picture shows the metal piece that I spat out, and the second picture shows the meal before it put metal into my life,” he added.

The airline, in its response, claimed that the foreign object came from the vegetable processing machine.

Rajesh Dogra, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Air India said, “Air India confirms that a foreign object was found in the meal of a guest aboard in one of our flights. After investigation, it has been identified as coming from the vegetable processing machine used at the facilities of our catering partner. We have worked with our catering partner to strengthen measures to prevent any recurrence, including more frequent checking of the processor especially after chopping off any hard vegetable.”