Airline food? It just got worse
Even in the earlier good times, airline food was often suspect and invariably bad. But in recent days, the food you get in the air may have been visited by cockroaches, both living and dead, among other undesirable conditions.
Inspectors for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered live roaches, dead roach carcasses "too numerous to count," ants, flies, debris, and bacteria. They also found employees preparing food with their bare hands in numerous catering facilities responsible for preparing a huge chunk of the country’s airline meals, USA TODAY reported.
The stomach-turning inspections were conducted over the last two years at the US facilities of two of the world’s biggest airline caterers, LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet, and another large caterer, Flying Food Group, according to reports obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Combined, the three companies provide more than 100 million meals every year at US airports, serving major carriers like Delta, American, United, US Airways and Continental.
All three caterers say they work hard to ensure food is safe. And airlines say they monitor the food that goes onto their planes.
LSG Sky Chefs has "comprehensive and multilayered quality-control standards in place to ensure our customers receive safe, healthy and high-quality food," said spokeswoman Beth Van Duyne.
Norbert van den Berg of Gate Gourmet says findings are taken "very seriously" and the company uses an independent auditor for quality assurance.
Glenn Caulkins of Flying Food Group also says his company’s facilities are independently audited for quality assurance.
"In spite of best efforts by the FDA and industry, the situation with in-flight catered foods is disturbing, getting worse and now poses a real risk of illness and injury to tens of thousands of airline passengers on a daily basis," says Roy Costa, a consultant and public health sanitarian.
One company, Gate Gourmet was slapped with a warning letter in April 2005 when FDA inspectors found cockroaches and fruit flies in its Honolulu facility, food stored at the wrong temperatures, mold in a refrigerator and "a pink, slimy substance" dripping on kitchen machinery.
Prior to the warning, between 47 and 116 passengers had fallen ill after eating food on 12 flights from Hawaii catered by Gate Gourmet, according to the Hawaii State Department of Health.
Gate Gourmet Vice President Norbert van den Berg says the company has an excellent system to ensure safe food, and that his company’s food-safety standards are better than any restaurant.
"We can guarantee the safest product out there," he told USA Today.
By David Wilkening
David
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