Discover the Hidden Risks of Airplane Food

Incidents with Airplane Food

In the past year, Delta passengers on a flight from Detroit to Amsterdam were served spoiled meals from a Do & Co kitchen. Allegedly moldy chicken sickened more than a dozen fliers, as reported by The Washington Post. Months later, an Air India passenger posted a video on X showing a dead cockroach in her omelet. The airline confirmed the incident but offered no further comment.

That same month, a mouse scampered out of a meal on a Scandinavian Airlines flight from Norway to Spain and scurried off, according to the Post. Other incidents include alleged cases of E. coli on Delta and reports of unsanitary practices by a caterer providing meals for British Airways.

Reasons for the Problem

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, regulations changed the types of cooking knives crews can use in the air. As a result, airlines have been seeking ways to cut food production costs and reduce meal preparation times for flight attendants. This is a far cry from the days when meals were prepared in four simultaneously operating galleys with five-minute ovens, as stated in a 1958 Pan Am commercial.

The more significant issue is that the confined nature of airplane travel makes foodborne illness outbreaks particularly challenging to manage. Darin Detwiler, a food safety adviser at Northeastern University, told The Post that temperature control, pests, and cross-contamination can all contribute to illnesses. The FDA requires inspections at least every three years for airline catering facilities, and the agency has written up two of the industry's largest catering companies, LSG Sky Chefs and Gate Gourmet.

Precautions for the Next Flight

When choosing airplane food, certain precautions can be taken. This includes avoiding raw seafood and undercooked food, as well as anything that needs to be kept cold, as advised by doctor Jen Dunphy to Yahoo!. However, Dunphy also emphasized that airplane food, despite these recent events, is generally safe and regulated by the FDA. But inspections do not occur frequently enough.

Food safety adviser Darin Detwiler said to Food & Wine that items like pasta may be a better choice than dishes that contain meat. But the only guaranteed way to avoid getting sick from airplane food is not to eat it. For people concerned about food safety while traveling, they could consider bringing shelf-stable snacks for the plane, such as granola bars, trail mix, and nuts, as suggested by food safety expert Ellen Shumaker to Food & Wine.