Airplane food has a reputation for being unappetizing, but a recent report published Tuesday by USA Today reveals that bad taste should be the least of a passenger’s worries when it comes to airplane food.
According to the report, inspectors for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered live roaches, dead roach carcasses, rat droppings, flies, food stored at the wrong temperature, and employees preparing food with their bare hands in the U.S.-based facilities of LSG Sky Chefs, Gate Gourmet and Flying Food Group.
As three of the largest airline food caterers in the country, these companies are responsible for preparing a large portion of airline meals in the United States.
Combined, the three companies provide more than 100 million meals every year at U.S. airports.
The revelation that FDA inspectors found health violations in 27 of the 91 facilities over a two-year time span has public health sanitation experts worried about the risk of illness to tens of thousands of airline passengers that consume airplane meals on a daily basis.
For more on healthy travels, visit our Health & Fitness section.
According to the Hawaii State Department of Health, for example, between 47 and 116 passengers feel ill in 2005 from eating food on 12 flights to Hawaii catered by Gate Gourmet.
And later that year, Gate Gourmet was given a warning letter when FDA inspectors found cockroaches, mold and fruit flies in its Honolulu facility.
The other caterers named in the report were issued similar warnings. In a 2009, LSG Sky Chefs’ facility in Minneapolis was issued a warning when an FDA inspector found rodent dropping and nests in prep areas.
Representative from the companies have pointed out that their health standards are better than most restaurants and that they have a system in place to ensure quality control. Also, they point out that improvements have been made since the FDA inspections.
LSG Sky Chefs, Gate Gourmet and Flying Food Group meals are found in legacy carriers like Delta, American, United, US Airways and Continental. They also are found in international airlines like Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways and Singapore Airlines.
By Adriana Padilla for PeterGreenberg.com.
Related Links: USA Today, CBS News, Paging Dr. Gupta, NY Daily News
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