High drama ensued on a moving train when a passenger and Indian Railways staff indulged in a heated argument over serving halal-certified tea. The high-voltage drama reportedly took place on the Vande Bharat Express train and the footage of the argument has gone viral on the micro-blogging website.
In the video, the passenger can be seen fuming over the word ‘halal’ while the railways’ staff tries to explain that the tea was vegetarian. The footage shows the man arguing about the need for such a certification. The passenger expressed concerns over the halal certification during the month of ‘Sawan’.
IRCTC issues clarification
After the video of the incident went viral on Twitter and garnered 277.4K views and 4K likes, the IRCTC jumped in and explained the reason in reply to a tweet, “The mentioned brand premix tea has the mandatory FSSAI Certification. The product is 100% vegetarian with mandatory “Green Dot” indication. Further, as per the manufacturer, the product is also exported to other countries which mandates, “Halal certification” for such products.”
Moreover, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) tried to simmer down the situation by issuing a statement which clarified that the tea packet was indeed vegetarian.
“Some sections in media have reported that some export quality tea is being served by IRCTC which has many certificates like FSSAI, ISO, GMP, FDA, Hallal, etc. But it is being highlighted by some media sections as it is only halal certified,” the railways said in a statement.
“The Ministry of Railways clarifies and reassures passengers that the product used is of international standards and hence, the manufacturer ensures all compliances, both domestic and the targeted countries for export purposes,” the statement said.
Chaizup issued clarification
Additionally, even the manufacturing company, Chaizup, clarified the concept of halal certification in a statement and said, “All our products lab reports are available and our products are 100 percent vegetarian. All ingredients are natural. We use milk powder, and 100 percent plant-based ingredients to make our tea and coffee premises.”