Bacteria fly free.
Federal inspection reports from plants where airline food is prepared turned up a nauseating array of health and sanitation violations — from roaches, flies and mouse droppings to filthy equipment and workers with unwashed hands.
The offenders were two of the world’s biggest airline caterers and another major prepared- food provider — which to gether pump out more than 100 million meals a year for airlines at US airports, in cluding Delta, American, United, US Airways and Continental, according to 18 months’ worth of Food and Drug Administra tion inspection reports.
It’s a recipe for a seri ous — even deadly — food-poisoning disaster.
“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,” consultant Roy Costa told USA Today, which obtained the inspection reports.
Among the reports’ most shocking findings were those at the Denver food-preparation facility of LSG Sky Chefs, the world’s largest airline caterer.
There, the FDA inspectors reportedly found workers handling food with bare hands and uncovered live and dead roaches “too numerous to count,” as well as ants, flies and other debris.
According to the newspaper, samples from a kitchen floor tested positive for listeria, a bacteria that can trigger serious — and sometimes fatal — infections in kids, pregnant women, the elderly and anyone with a weakened immune system.
LSG Sky Chefs annually provides 405 million meals worldwide for more than 300 airlines.
Its spokeswoman, Beth Van Duyne, said immediate measures were taken to fix the problems.
Also cited were the food-prep facilities of Gate Gourmet, which is the world’s second-largest airline caterer, and Flying Food Group, another large caterer.
The caterers insisted they work hard to ensure food is safe. The airlines told USA Today that they themselves monitor food that comes aboard.
LSG Sky Chefs says it has “comprehensive and multilayered quality-control standards in place.”
Flying Food Group and Gate Gourmet say they use independent auditors to ensure quality.
A spokesman for JetBlue told the paper the carrier requires its caterers to provide results of FDA inspections and does its own visits to their facilities.