According to an article by Jesse Drucker and Jill Carroll in the Wall Street Journal on July 27, 2001 Several Airlines and In-Flight Caterers Violate Federal Food Storage Rules.


According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) records some of the country's biggest airlines and in-flight caterers have violated federal health regulations of food storage and sewage handling So far this year, the agency has sent six "warning letters" about violations to carriers including Northwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and Continental Airlines -- twice the number sent during the same period in 1997.

In May of 2001 FDA inspectors found that a Northwest airplane in San Francisco International Airport was storing chicken filets at 62 degrees, 17 degrees higher than regulations permit.

In April of 2001 at Albuquerque International Airport in April, a Delta Air Lines lavatory service truck was leaking "waste water and/or sewage" onto the ground.

At the same month, the FDA found an AirTran Airways lavatory sewage tank wasn't capped, leading to an accumulation of sewage on the tarmac at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

The situation isn't any better at airline caterers. At LSG Sky Chefs, the world's largest in-flight catering company and a unit of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, of Germany, employees "were observed touching their mouth, forehead and nose and then continuing to work without washing hands or changing gloves," according to the report of an FDA inspection in May.

Food-temperature violations are viewed as serious because they can result in bacterial growth and contamination.

FDA warning letters received by airlines from Nov. 1996 to present: