Airplane Food: The Dirty Truth

Mortyman · Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:40 pm

Dpn't know if this has been posted before:

Airplane Food: The Dirty Truth About Where Your Meal Comes From

An investigation by ABC's "20/20" revealed that more than 1,500 health violations had been identified by FDA inspectors throughout the past four years, including things like dirty cooking areas, old or moldy products and employees not washing their hands. Oh, and roaches and mice.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...truth_n_2170098.html?ir=Weird+News

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mice-roache...ood/story?id=17739284#.UKzKYeQ73Iw

Wasn't aware that it was this bad. ..

Anyone here had such bad experience with airline food ( other than it being bland ) ?

fxramper · Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:52 pm

It's funny cause I fly all the time and the cabin crew know how toxic the food is and take offense when you refuse a F class meal. Haven't had plane food in years.

Viscount724 · Sun Nov 25, 2012 9:53 pm

You'll find many similar reports involving restaurants and such things as food service facilities on cruise ships which are subject to regular inspections.

TWA772LR · Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:02 pm

Have you ever hear of McDonalds? Or Subway? Or Taco Bell? It happens at every food establishment.

ckfred · Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:21 pm

Who is responsible for inspecting flight kitchens for LSG Sky Chefs, Gate Gourmet, Flying Food Group, and other airline caterers?

One would think that a county or municipal health department would inspect a flight kitchen, just as it inspects kitchens of restaurants within a jurisdiction, or whichever agency inspects food service facilities at airport restaurants.

I know that a federal agency inspects the food service facilities of ships that call on U.S. ports, because state and local agencies don't have jurisdiction, and the vast majority of ships fly foreign flags.

N766UA · Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:28 pm

I don't really care. It tastes fine (generally) and I've never gotten sick, so, what's the difference?

antoniemey · Sun Nov 25, 2012 11:01 pm

Ah, "investigative reporting"... let's scare everyone into thinking they're unsafe when the same thing happens at that Chinese restaurant they stop at 3 nights a week...

You'd be appalled if you knew what happens with the food at convenience stores...

With that in mind, things like maggots in the food that ends up being served IS an issue. Moldy or outdated food being found at the prep kitchen is not, as long as it's not ending up being used anyway. Assuming monthly inspections, 1500 violations (and they didn't specifically say what the frequency of major violations was) is 31.5 per month... across the whole country. Not really that high of an incidence rate.

rotating14 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:02 am

Above all else you can forgo the catered airline cuisine and pack a Peanutbutter & Jelly sandwich with animal crackers and a Juicy Juice drink box or eat the likes of Quiznos, Burger King or Qdoba. You'll always have a choice.

JAGflyer · Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:39 am

We had some left over crew meals from a plane we were importing from Europe which were packaged in SNN. There were only 3 people onboard yet the caterer put 6 meals on. I took a leftover foil dish of salmon/potatoes thinking I'd warm it up in the toaster for lunch. Then I started to think about the food being put on the plane in SNN most likely chilled, then sitting on the 737 with no chillers for 7 hours in a somewhat warm cabin environment. I figured I'd err on the side of caution and toss the meal after taking a few bites. It smelled/tasted ok but I didn't want to risk any food poisoning. Too bad since it looked like something you'd expect in J or F!

This begs the question of how can airlines control bacteria growth when the planes do not have chillers? I've seen milk/creamers in a drawer with ice but what about meals? The pre-packaged TV dinners I've seen on planes were stored in cardboard boxes or loaded into the ovens by the caterers. They were most likely packed with preservatives to survive outside of a cold environment.

[Edited 2012-11-25 16:42:11]

Viscount724 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:44 am

I remember finding a worm about 1 inch long in an airline salad once, fortunately before I'd started eating. It's worse when you find half a worm.

doulasc · Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:54 am

I am surprised that inflight meals have gone downhill this far. I have traveled on TWA,Delta and Eastern in the 1960s and 1970s and people gripped about airline food then.My opinion was then I though the meals were satisfactory and this was in coach.I remember breakfast on Eastern pancakes with apple topping,mini sausage links,orange juice and coffee.satisfactory

delta747tlv · Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:55 am

Often we are just hoping for the best on aircraft without chillers, but you won't find most crew members eating any food onboard and definitely not fish beyond hour 1 or 2 of the flight. On the milk end of things, milk on international flights is UHT- ultra high temperature processing, it does not need to be refrigerated and has a 6-9month shelf life before opening.

EK413 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:10 am

I must say airline food is pretty good considering the meals are mass produced and to read such a report makes me laugh... Why don't they inspect McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut for health violations...

http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_...atch?feature=related&v=VdSuUUIipUw

EK413

[Edited 2012-11-25 17:31:32]

FI642 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:25 am

We used to do regular surprise inspections on the kitchens. I have seen some "interesting" situations in too.. They were always surprised to see my thermometer, and to find out I am both Sanitation and HACCP certified. I was then they took me seriously.

I have gotten food poisoning on a plane before. In First, no less!

aviateur · Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:46 am

This seems like more airline-bashing to me. How often do things this happen in restaurants, supermarkets or convenience stores?

US carriers are serving hundreds of thousands of pre-prepared meals every day.

davidho1985 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:36 am

I don't expect those airplane foods are delicious.
But I expect they are clean and up to the related standards.

Flighty · Mon Nov 26, 2012 2:43 am

Farms also have dirty fields and many insects crawling around...

ozark1 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:09 am

Quoting aviateur (Reply 14):
This seems like more airline-bashing to me. How often do things this happen in restaurants, supermarkets or convenience stores?

That's exactly what this is. The media and some of you who have nothing better to do eat this stuff up (no pun intended).

Quoting fxramper (Reply 1):
It's funny cause I fly all the time and the cabin crew know how toxic the food is and take offense when you refuse a F class meal. Haven't had plane food in years.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Take offense at not having to serve someone? Doesn't make sense. But then, i'm used to that on here.

Okie · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:16 am

Quoting doulasc (Reply 10):
. I have traveled on TWA,Delta and Eastern in the 1960s and 1970s and people gripped about airline food then.My opinion was then I though the meals were satisfactory and this was in coach.I remember breakfast on Eastern pancakes with apple topping,mini sausage links,orange juice and coffee.satisfactory

They may have been a little short on seasonings for my tastes but were much better than Okie could cook. I had been on a many a flight in that time frame and would hear fellow passengers complain, I thought it was pretty good myself and noticed they always ate what was put before them.

Quoting JAGflyer (Reply 8):
The pre-packaged TV dinners I've seen on planes were stored in cardboard boxes or loaded into the ovens by the caterers. They were most likely packed with preservatives to survive outside of a cold environment.

The concept is to cook the items to kill the bacteria, then chilled or frozen, they are just reheated in the ovens, the cooking process was previously accomplished.

Okie

AirframeAS · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:21 am

Quoting rotating14 (Reply 7):
pack a Peanutbutter & Jelly sandwich with animal crackers and a Juicy Juice drink box

And how do you plan on getting that past the TSA, especially the juice box?

ltbewr · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:39 am

There are plenty of opportunities for contaminated food, beverages and related items like ice and even water on air flights as other posters noted as well as at your local restaurant.

A big problems as to air flights can be different standards from where food, drinks, ice and even water is sourced from, transported or otherwise handled and if one gets sick, it may be more difficult to determine the source of the contamination. You could have a number of jurisdictions involved with who is responsible for health law enforcement, including the airport, the airline, the preparer's site cans and each have different inspectors involved. Food for air flights also have a number of opportunities for spoilage and contamination in transit from the preparers to the airplane as well as on the plane. You also have the possibility of illness or improper procedures by flight crews that can contamminate food. Preparers also may not follow or sufficiently enforce proper procedures or to hold down costs, may allow the use of borderline safe use date or possibly improperly handled food and water, you could have malfunctions of cooking equipment as well.
Still, overall, the risks of getting contamminated food on an airline flight, if you are so lucky to get any, is probalby quite low due to the liability risks meaning well established procedrues to reduce them.

rotating14 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:24 am

Quoting AirframeAS (Reply 19):

I've boarded with packed food, the juice box is consumed before encountering TSA but you can still buy unopened and unexpired drinks without fear of contamination or fear of it being safe to drink on the plane or cafes/eateries that dot the safe area.

spiritair97 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:23 am

This happens every day in many places that people eat all the time. If you don't want to eat the airline food, get takeout from a restaurant in the terminal before you board. This should be sufficient, or if it is a short flight, stop at a consession stand or Dunkin adonuts that are near the gates. I have done it many times.

Flighty · Mon Nov 26, 2012 6:30 am

Quoting spiritair97 (Reply 22):
get takeout from a restaurant in the terminal before you board. This should be sufficient, or if it is a short flight, stop at a consession stand or Dunkin adonuts that are near the gates.

This is just substituting one imperfect food delivery method for another. Also, there is no perfect food delivery method.

anplatinum · Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:45 am

I got bad food poisoning from food on a certain middle eastern airline. It was a two sector 24 hour total journey and I had not eaten anything but airline food for 30 hours. After several months of threatened legal action, they refunded my fare. But I still lost several days of my holiday while recovering.

It is fine to say don't eat airline food but on long trips there is not much else to eat. With 14 hour sectors, plus an hour at each end, it is over 16 hours between non-airline food opportunities and then is the food in airport terminals any better?

varigb707 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 9:48 am

Quoting Mortyman (Thread starter):

Airplane Food: The Dirty Truth About Where Your Meal Comes From

Oh boy... Now this happened within the USA, where standards are usually high, where laws are followed. Now, imagine what goes on in other countries where food and health departments are not that strict. Oy vey...

pvjin · Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:12 am

I would be more concerned about all the additives most industrial foods are full of today instead of lack of hygiene. You likely aren't going to die because of having some mice in your meal, but all those chemicals foods are full of today may very well develop you some deadly disease, who knows what they will cause during longer time.

delta88 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:55 am

In my opionion, i think really the point of the Article was describing how poorly the Airlines maintain their kitchen and food safety. Yes Taco bell and Mickey Ds and all of that have the same thing, but most people go to one of those fast food chains Expecting that. Most people think that with Airlines spending tons of money on all kinds of upgrades, new aircraft, and other stuff like that, people might think the airlines could spare a few dollars to improve the Galley and Food safety. Its all in peoples minds, thinking that airlines spend so much money on safety and have to get so many Certifications and Tests passed in order to fly, you think theyd improve Food Safety. This is all really opionion, Ive had a breakfast Econ Class in an AAL 762ER 7 Times in a row, 3 kids meals and then 4 Adult meals(As I grew older) And I found that only the Sweet Potato they used to serve seemed to taste odd, and it wasnt hot with the rest of the food(it could be that just wanst supposed to be cooked, i was only 8 at the time :P). But In reality, theres a higher risk of the plane blowing up instantaneously than of everyone suddenly dieing or falling ill from Food Poisioning, the risk is there, but its so remotely low that it doesnt even make a difference. The people most concerned here, and Pardon me if i seem offensive, is women with Small children, who generally are more concerned about whats in their food VS The rest of us who simply dont care anymore.

Delta88

migair54 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:56 am

That´s why both pilots never eat the same....

I know few pilots that tell the Cabin crew to bring all the menu to see how does it look like each dish and then they decide, of course always captain first.

I have worked in a restaurant 2 years before moving to airline industry and I can tell you that even the best restaurant in the world always have some issues, no kitchen is perfect. I would like to know 1500 but in how many inspections?? 1500 in 4 years that´s an average on 1 a day only. If you compare with the volume of work a company like Skychefs or LSG move in a day that´s nothing at all.

Quoting spiritair97 (Reply 22):
This happens every day in many places that people eat all the time. If you don't want to eat the airline food, get takeout from a restaurant in the terminal before you board. This should be sufficient, or if it is a short flight, stop at a consession stand or Dunkin adonuts that are near the gates. I have done it many times.

Shall we trust Dunkin donuts starbucks or Burger King then???

I think the best thing we can do is continue your normal life, food poisoning might happen even at your own home, cooking yourself and with good products. Papers have to sell and this kind of stories are very helpful.

spiritair97 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:57 am

Quoting Flighty (Reply 23):

Quoting migair54 (Reply 28):

Yes, but many people will do it for the piece of mind. Even it isn't much better, people feel better eating it most times.

rabenschlag · Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:00 pm

I think it is an incredible act of trust ingesting something that was prepared, touched, handled by strangers in one's own absence. And more often than not some of these strangers are underpaid and not particularly qualified, and I doubt that they often really care about food. I mostly have a bad feeling when eating out unless it is a Michelin starred place - or the cook is brahman (just kidding). As a consequence, I try to cook myself as often as possible.

[Edited 2012-11-26 05:34:11]

n729pa · Mon Nov 26, 2012 1:53 pm

Any prepared food item carries some threat or other. How do you know the can of fizzy (soda) drink you're drinking from hasn't had a cockroach s*** on the top of it? A product can be made in sterile conditions and then kept or transported in dirty ones. Whether it's a corner shop, 5 star Michelin diner or take away fast food joint, there is a risk of some sort.

It's also worth remembering that the majority of food bugs come through badly cooked food, more than anything. Did you use the loo/toilet? Wash your hands? You did? Oh splendid....shame the last person to touch the door handle in front of you didn't bother!

If you don't eat airline food, do you eat before you get on the plane? So what do you know about that food that makes it any safer than what you'd get on board? Or the breakfast you had at the hotel this morning, or the sandwich you picked up with a coffee on the way to the airport?

vv701 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:05 pm

Quoting ckfred (Reply 4):
Who is responsible for inspecting flight kitchens for LSG Sky Chefs, Gate Gourmet, Flying Food Group, and other airline caterers?

In the UK a central government organisation, the Food Standards Agency already or will coordinate this activity:

http://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/regulation/foodstandardsact

Inspections are carried out by local government officers. In the case of the very large Gate Gourmet facility near to LHR this would be the London Borough of Hounslow:

http://www.hounslow.gov.uk/index/env...safety/food_safety_inspections.htm

JOYA380B747 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:08 pm

Screw FDA, we have worse trash served at local food joints here, airplane food is nothing compared to that

YULWinterSkies · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:18 pm

Quoting aviateur (Reply 14):
This seems like more airline-bashing to me. How often do things this happen in restaurants, supermarkets or convenience stores?

US carriers are serving hundreds of thousands of pre-prepared meals every day.

Yep, sure there are not just airplane food that may be breaking some hygiene rules... And contamination also occasionally happens when all known precautions are taken. Zero risk does not exist.

Quoting migair54 (Reply 28):
That´s why both pilots never eat the same....

At least since Airplane (the movie)

Quoting Flighty (Reply 16):
Farms also have dirty fields and many insects crawling around...

Or, alternatively, none of these but a whole bunch of sprayed chemicals in order to kill the said germs and insects. Duh, guess who eats the chemicals at the end! Again, life is a calculated risk.
I personally err on the side of caution with chemicals.

ckfred · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:35 pm

Quoting EK413 (Reply 12):
Why don't they inspect McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut for health violations...

The typical chain fast food restaurant gets a regular inspection from the local health department (probably run by the county or municipality), as well as by corporate.

In Georgia, not only does a restaurant have to display a record of its last health inspection, which includes a letter grade, but those inspections are published in the local newspaper.

DTWPurserBoy · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:38 pm

I ate airplane food for 42 years between the USAF (no great chefs there!) and the airlines. Never once got sick. Wherever you have large amounts of food you will have rodent/bug problems.

One time on a flight out of MEX I opened a TC oven to count the meals, closed the door, set the timer and walked away. Twenty minutes later I hear the "ding" telling me the food was cooked. I opened the oven and lying on the top of the rack was a well-cooked rat. I slammed the oven door, whispered to my colleague not to open the oven, and went up to the cockpit to tell the boss what had happened. Our less-than-intelligent second officer says "I don't see what the problem is. The food was covered with foil. Just serve it". So I left the 'pit, walked to the back, took a meal out of the oven, grabbed a fork and walked back up to the cockpit. I put the meal and fork down in front of the second officer and said "Bon Appetit, A**hole. If you'll eat, I'll serve it." Of course he refused (by this time the other two pilots were in hysterics).

So I had to get "creative." I got on the PA and said "Ladies and gentlmen I have an apology to make. We have had problems with one of our ovens and I am going to be short about 20 meals. If any of you are trying to lose weight like all of your crew and are willing to pass on the meal, I will give you a $10.00 meal voucher so you can eat in the airport. It got a big laugh, had about 40 people decline and everyone was happy. Except, perhaps, the rat.

rabenschlag · Mon Nov 26, 2012 3:44 pm

Quoting n729pa (Reply 31):

Any prepared food item carries some threat or other. How do you know the can of fizzy (soda) drink you're drinking from hasn't had a cockroach s*** on the top of it? A product can be made in sterile conditions and then kept or transported in dirty ones. Whether it's a corner shop, 5 star Michelin diner or take away fast food joint, there is a risk of some sort.

Don't buy cans. Drink from bottles. The caps make sure that your mouth does not hit the nasty stuff.

Indeed, there are risks everywhere. And I suggest that - on average - the risk is substantially lower in a 3 star establishment compared to a pizza delivery service. Of course, there may be exceptions, but on average....

Quoting n729pa (Reply 31):

It's also worth remembering that the majority of food bugs come through badly cooked food, more than anything. Did you use the loo/toilet? Wash your hands? You did? Oh splendid....shame the last person to touch the door handle in front of you didn't bother!

Oh yes! Which is why I always use paper towels to open the doors. I am well aware that this sounds a bit obsessive-compulsive, but door handles, especially in public toilets, are nasty nasty nasty. Same is true for scrubbing sponges and refrigerators, which is why I prefer to primarily be affected by my own sponges and fridge.

Quoting n729pa (Reply 31):

If you don't eat airline food, do you eat before you get on the plane? So what do you know about that food that makes it any safer than what you'd get on board? Or the breakfast you had at the hotel this morning

What do I know about it? I know how old it is, how it was cleaned, how fresh it was, the cleanliness of the kitchen and the cook - because more often than not, I am the cook.

Ferroviarius · Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:09 pm

I assume that kosher food is all right even from other points of view than the faith point of view. The supervision of kosher kitchen to me appears to be quite strict. So, I go for kosher whenever available (and it usually is available on the routes and airlines I am using).

Best,
Ferroviarius

superjeff · Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:31 pm

Quoting Mortyman (Thread starter):

The OP is quoting from The Huffington Post which is nothing more than a blog - and certainly not known for accuracy or even verifying its information. While it is possible that there are bad food issues on airlines from time to time, I don't think you can consider this source as necessarily accurate. And most domestic flights in the U.S. don't serve food anymore in economy class; Virgin Australia doesn't on their domestic flights, and most of the European carriers are totally Buy on Board anyway, so I don't think that this is even relevant on most flights anyway.

canyonblue17 · Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:17 pm

I was once at FLL sitting near my gate and next to the window. I won't name the airline, but there was a provisioning truck parked in at the gate. Sitting on the top of the truck was a plastic-wrapped box with bags of crackers, chips and pretzels. In the ten minutes the box sat there, it was swarmed by about a dozen birds, who picked most of it apart. A few minutes later an airline employee grabbed what was left of the box, took any of the unopened bags and headed toward a parked aircraft to load them.

UA772IAD · Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:31 pm

I find it interesting here that most people are bashing the 20/20 piece and don't seemed to be concerned that there were 15,000 violations over 4 years. Granted, we don't know over how many facilities, yet that is a substantial number.

I have a job in the service industry, in F&B and while I agree that truly spotless kitchens are rare (I've only ever worked in one myself), but it comes down to proper management to ensure that food safety protocol is met. A lot of it is common sense anyways.

From the video, what is unacceptable, (whether it be a catering kitchen at the airport, or a restaurant kitchen):

- Moldy food. Should be thrown away, period. And really, should not be found in a professional kitchen. Someone isn't following FIFO, or the food isn't being stored at a proper temperature. That CAN get someone sick.

- Pests. Inevitable, but should be handled promptly. Call the exterminator, and re-examine the clean-up procedure. When was the last deep clean performed?

- Not washing hands. Again, unacceptable.

- Food stored at the wrong temperature. Again, unacceptable in a professional environment.

As for the "visit a fast food restaurant" argument, you'll find that most places have very clean kitchens due to the fact that they are regularly visited by health inspectors, and must maintain strict sanitation standards simply because it's easy to follow the pinpoint the source of illness (I ate at McDonalds for lunch and got sick by dinnertime), and there have been high profile cases involving food illness at fast food establishments. This is something that top level management is very strict about. The quality of the food and staff complacency is another issue...

Mortyman · Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:38 pm

Quoting superjeff (Reply 39):
The OP is quoting from The Huffington Post which is nothing more than a blog - and certainly not known for accuracy or even verifying its information. While it is possible that there are bad food issues on airlines from time to time, I don't think you can consider this source as necessarily accurate. And most domestic flights in the U.S. don't serve food anymore in economy class; Virgin Australia doesn't on their domestic flights, and most of the European carriers are totally Buy on Board anyway, so I don't think that this is even relevant on most flights anyway.

Notice that the Huf was quoting ABCnews wich did the original investigation and reporting. The link to the article on ABC was also included in my post ...

Quoting UA772IAD (Reply 41):
I find it interesting here that most people are bashing the 20/20 piece and don't seemed to be concerned that there were 15,000 violations over 4 years. Granted, we don't know over how many facilities, yet that is a substantial number.

Indeed

Posters here don't seem to have read the articles I posted ...

The service providers that prepare the food for US airlines are also the same service providers that service food to airlines around the world for a various number of airlines. So this is not just about what is happening in the USA

And yes, one can encounter bad experiences on fastfood chains and indeed finer restaurants too. But this is the aviation forum ...

[Edited 2012-11-26 11:41:18]

[Edited 2012-11-26 11:43:15]

tdscanuck · Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:07 pm

Quoting UA772IAD (Reply 41):
I find it interesting here that most people are bashing the 20/20 piece and don't seemed to be concerned that there were 15,000 violations over 4 years. Granted, we don't know over how many facilities, yet that is a substantial number.

There's no basis to call it a substantial number without knowing how many facilities we're talking about. What's interesting is, at least, the rate per facility and, more interestingly, the rate per meal processed. Knowing the numerator doesn't tell you squat about the denominator.

Tom.

yellowtail · Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:18 pm

Quoting Flighty (Reply 16):

Farms also have dirty fields and many insects crawling around...

The very definition of Organic

Quoting migair54 (Reply 28):
Shall we trust Dunkin donuts starbucks or Burger King then???

Actually the Pizza Hut in ATL two weeks ago look pretty nasty

UA772IAD · Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:06 am

Quoting tdscanuck (Reply 43):
There's no basis to call it a substantial number without knowing how many facilities we're talking about. What's interesting is, at least, the rate per facility and, more interestingly, the rate per meal processed. Knowing the numerator doesn't tell you squat about the denominator.

Actually, there is. I doubt there are 15,000 prep kitchens/catering facilities at US airports. Outstations usually don't handle any prep work other than perhaps refrigerating food if the aircraft is RON and perhaps handling dry storage (items such as sodas or chips, for example). Hubs and big cities likely have several facilities- either way, that number is very high. Our kitchen didn't receive ANY violations from our random visit from the state health inspector this summer (good work Chef...)

Either way, pick your poison: a specific facility with multiple violations, or a widespread problem indicating complacent management and poor SOPs that could affect any kitchen in the said caterer's operation.

antoniemey · Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:31 am

Quoting UA772IAD (Reply 41):
find it interesting here that most people are bashing the 20/20 piece and don't seemed to be concerned that there were 15,000 violations over 4 years. Granted, we don't know over how many facilities, yet that is a substantial number.

You've inflated by a factor of 10. The articles said 1,500. That's roughly 1 violation per day across the whole of the US.

Quoting UA772IAD (Reply 41):
- Not washing hands. Again, unacceptable.

I agree... but I'd advise you not to eat any prepared food from the local convenience store.

The key here isn't whether anything is "acceptable" or not, but whether your risk of having an issue is any higher on a plane than it is on the ground eating similar quality food.

Quoting UA772IAD (Reply 41):
As for the "visit a fast food restaurant" argument, you'll find that most places have very clean kitchens due to the fact that they are regularly visited by health inspectors, and must maintain strict sanitation standards simply because it's easy to follow the pinpoint the source of illness (I ate at McDonalds for lunch and got sick by dinnertime), and there have been high profile cases involving food illness at fast food establishments. This is something that top level management is very strict about.

And the catering kitchens probably have to meet the same requirements... but in most places I've lived, when a restaurant fails an inspection, it's not shut down, it's given x amount of days to clean up, re-inspect, and pass.

The Huffington Post article did not specify how frequent the serious violations were... The actual ABC article was a bit more specific on the subject of the bugs, but still very vague on everything else. Any place can get dinged for having a dirty counter or unwashed dishes any day of the week... cases moldy food, however, were probably once-offs at any given location that are being cited for shock value.

Quoting Mortyman (Reply 42):
Posters here don't seem to have read the articles I posted ...

I did.

FlyDeltaJets · Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:24 am

Quoting UA772IAD (Reply 41):
I find it interesting here that most people are bashing the 20/20 piece and don't seemed to be concerned that there were 15,000 violations over 4 years. Granted, we don't know over how many facilities, yet that is a substantial number.

There are probably double that number of facilities, given that right here in JFK just for LSG SkyChefs there are 4 kitchens, 2 for Flying Foods, and 1 for each of the other more than a dozen or so catering companies that serve the airlines of JFK.

UA772IAD · Tue Nov 27, 2012 1:14 pm

Quoting Antoniemey (Reply 46):
You've inflated by a factor of 10. The articles said 1,500. That's roughly 1 violation per day across the whole of the US.

Thanks for the correction!

danielkandi · Tue Nov 27, 2012 2:14 pm

TK food ftw. Never had a bad meal with them!!!

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