MIX-UP: Hindu woman Pushplata Sharma, of Blenheim, is devastated after she was mistakenly served meat on a flight to India.

A Blenheim Hindu woman is upset that a lifetime of not eating meat was undone when she was served chicken by mistake on a flight from New Zealand to India.

Pushplata Sharma, 56, is a vegetarian who, as part of her religion, does not eat meat or eggs.

She had never eaten meat or eggs until she inadvertently ate chicken when it was served to her on a Singapore Airlines flight to New Delhi in February.

A Singapore Airlines spokesman said the airline was concerned that Sharma was served the wrong food, but the booking made by the travel agent did not ask for a special meal.

Sharma booked her tickets through Travelsmart Manners St, Wellington, and asked for an Indian meal free of meat and eggs, which was shown on the itinerary given to her.

However, after a mixup between the travel agent and the airline, the request was forgotten and the wrong meal was served.

The problem was compounded because Sharma speaks little English.

Speaking through her son-in-law, Ajay Gaur, Sharma said that when she was given the meal, she thought the chicken was cheese.

She realised the mistake only after she had eaten some, and was immediately sick.

A crew member who could understand her language apologised and brought her rice, chickpeas and bread, but she did not eat anything more on the flight or on the return journey, she said.

She felt sick whenever she thought of the meal, and had gone to a doctor for treatment for depression, she said.

"We don't eat any non-vegetarian food. We give the food to God first, then we eat it. I gave meat to the god."

Gaur said the event was horrible for his mother-in-law and a blip in more than half a century of perfect adherence to the Hindu faith.

Younger Hindus were generally more relaxed about eating food disallowed by the faith, but the older generation took it very seriously, he said.

Singapore Airlines New Zealand passenger services manager Murray Wild said the company catered for many different dietary requirements and took the incident seriously.

"We are concerned to learn of this incident, and we regret any distress this may have caused," he said.

"We are heartened that our cabin crew were able to recover the situation and offer the preferred meal. We also subsequently updated the booking to ensure the necessary dietary requests were made for the rest of the journey."

The airline would be looking at how the incident happened, along with the travel agent, and would keep Sharma informed, he said.