Be careful while having food on a plane next time. You may find creepy rodents or roaches crawling your way! The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stated that airlines and their food caterers have 1,500 health violations registered against them.
ABC, under the Freedom of Information Act, acquired a list of recent health violation records from FDA. The report had evidence of rodents on Delta Airlines planes. The airline in a statement said, "This clearly was an isolated incident and we cooperated with the FDA immediately to resolve it immediately after it was brought to our attention. The health and safety of Delta's customers and employees are Delta's top priority. We take this issue very seriously and have an established routine servicing program to inspect our aircraft."
The airline said that they value safety of customers and they have addressed the related problems, "These FDA inspections, some dating to 2009, are related to inspections of lavatory service trucks and aircraft potable water. We began addressing the action items the FDA set forth immediately. Delta's deepest core value is the safety of our customers."
FDA inspectors at Gate Gourmet, a top catering service which serves airlines, found roaches, ants and unrefrigerated food and said the ambience was extremely unhygienic. The company however defended the allegations and said in a statement, "None of the FDA's observations ... indicated a threat to the health of the traveling public."
According to FDA this industry has a higher rate of problems compared to others, reports Daily Mail.
This is not the first time that the airline industry has faced such charges. In 2010, USA Today had reported similar shortfalls in airlines food. Travelers should take note and maybe avoid the bland offerings altogether.
