Air India food 'can cut like a knife', says passenger who found metal blade in meal

A shocked Air India passenger found that the food served on the Tata Group-run airline can actually "cut like a knife".

This is how the passenger described the horrific incident when he discovered a 'metal blade' inside his in-flight meal onboard Air India AI 175 flying from Bengaluru to San Francisco.

Luckily, "no harm was done" since he got the "feel" of it while chewing on his food, said the passenger Mathures Paul.

Air India later confirmed that a foreign object was found in the meal of a guest aboard one of their flights.

The ordeal

Paul, a journalist, took to X platform to share his ordeal.

In his post, Paul explained that he was enjoying his meal of roasted sweet potato and fig chaat last week when he felt a piece of metal in his mouth. As he spat it out, he realised it was a metal blade.

"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," he wrote.

Further, he added that the blame squarely lies with Air India's catering service but the incident did not help the image he has of Air India. In the post, he shared an image of the bowl which shows the metal blade next to the food. He wrote: First picture shows the metal piece that I spat out and the second picture shows the meal before it put metal into my life.

Also, in his post Paul asked what would have happened if the meal was served to a child.

Air India offers free ticket

In response to the incident, Air India contacted Paul and offered a one-way business class ticket valid redeemable on any Air India flight for up to one year.

But Paul declined the offer, terming the gesture as a bribe. 

The airline later confirmed the incident happened and explained that the blade was part of a vegetable chopping machine used by its catering vendor.

"Air India confirms that a foreign object was found in the meal of a guest aboard 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," Rajesh Dogra, chief customer experience officer, Air India, told ANI news agency.

Another complaint

Earlier in the day, another Air India passenger, flying from New Delhi to Newark in the US, complained that he was served uncooked food and that the plane seats were dirty.

Vineeth K said he was flying business class on June 15 and had to ask for a change of seat. The request was accepted.

At the end of the flight, he also found that his luggage was damaged. Air India has not responded to the allegations.