India incensed over video of vendor making tea in toilet
It’s the latest in a series of hygiene scares that has made people more wary about where and what they eat
An Indian tea vendor caught on video taking water from a train toilet before selling his drinks to passengers has been fined amid heightened concern in India about food safety.
The vendor on the Chennai-Hyderabad Express was caught after footage of him and two others coming out of a toilet with large cans used to serve tea and coffee on Indian trains was widely shared.
Indian Railways said in a statement that the “incident has been inquired into in detail” and that the tea seller had been fined the equivalent of US$1,500.
The video was made on a train at Secunderabad in Telangana state. Out of the three vendors seen only one was licensed.
The vendor claimed the group were transferring milk from one can to another and did not want to do it in the open.
“The very fact that tea/coffee cans were seen being brought out of the toilet, is in itself a wrong practice,” the railway company said.
A series of recent incidents have put the spotlight on food safety in India.