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Worms in Vande Bharat curd spark Rs 60 lakh fines, IRCTC summons Amul
Viral Vande Bharat video triggers crackdown and sharp food safety debate
NEW DELHI: A food safety row on board a Vande Bharat Express has snowballed into a major controversy, with over Rs 60 lakh in penalties imposed and multiple stakeholders, including Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation and Amul, coming under scrutiny.
The incident dates back to March 15, when passenger Ritesh Singh discovered live worms or weevils in a sealed cup of curd served during a journey on the Patna to Tatanagar route. A video capturing the moment quickly went viral, showing the passenger confronting onboard staff. In the clip, a train attendant is heard initially dismissing the insects as kesar, before the seriousness of the situation became apparent.
Early reports suggested the curd may have been past its expiry date or improperly stored, raising concerns over handling practices rather than just sourcing.
The fallout was swift. On March 25, the Railway Board pulled up authorities for what it termed gross negligence, ordering strict action. The catering vendor, Krishna Enterprises, was fined Rs 50 lakh, had its contract terminated with immediate effect and was blacklisted. Meanwhile, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation itself was fined Rs 10 lakh for inadequate supervision and for initially imposing what was seen as a token penalty of Rs 25,000 on the vendor.
The railways have also summoned Amul to explain the apparent breach in product quality, even as the dairy giant has strongly denied responsibility.
In its clarification, Amul maintained that contamination at the manufacturing stage was highly unlikely. The company stated that weevils cannot survive or reproduce in sealed curd due to its acidic nature and lack of oxygen. It further indicated that an internal audit found the batch shown in the viral video did not appear to be sourced through its authorised distribution network, suggesting a possible supply chain lapse at the vendor’s end.
The company also pointed to what it described as an “infested tray” theory, noting that a frame-by-frame review of the video suggested the pests may have crawled into the curd from an external surface rather than being present inside the sealed product during production.
While responsibility continues to be debated, the incident has triggered wider concerns over food safety standards on premium trains. The Railway Board has since ordered surprise inspections across catering services to prevent a repeat.
For passengers, the episode has left a sour aftertaste. For the railways and its partners, it is a clear signal that hygiene lapses, however small, can quickly spiral into a full-blown credibility crisis.
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UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
