Air India passenger finds housefly in his on board meal

A passenger on board an Air India (AI) flight from Kathmandu reportedly found a housefly in the meal served to him during the journey, but the airline said that no sample of the food item was submitted to it for verifying the claim.

The incident took place on Saturday on the airline's flight from Kathmandu to Kolkata. Air India said that since the aggrieved passenger did not provide a sample of the insect-ridden food item to it for examination, it could not verify the claim.

AI clarifies that the incident about an 'insect' in the meal was brought to our notice by a passenger of KTM-CCU flight. However, upon request to examine, the food sample was not shared or returned to us for us to examine or investigate. "We are thus not able to confirm the veracity of the claim being made", the national carrier said in a statement.

"AI follows laid down procedures on such complaints and, hence, it was imperative to have the specimen for us to investigate", it added. The airline was hit with a similar controversy last month when a passenger alleged that he had found a lizard in his on board meal. The claim, however, was later found to be fake by the AI authorities.