Reusing Food for Another Flight the Same or Next Day?

Dears ,

First let me put the question " cant we reuse the food affloaded from short sector flights, for another flights the same day or next day?" this is a question asked to me.

my answer was no, Food mentioned here is cold foods like sandwiches,croissants with jam and butter portiond for airlines.

my reason for saying NO: 1.since the food is a RTE (ready to eat) itsa high risk food
2. The food cannot be temperature abused at all
3.Once the food leaves the unit (catering unit) we dont know what is happening to it, touched,not refrigerated etc etc.
4.even when justified of putting dry ice it cannot be done because of the above reasons.

you all might be wondering why ask this if i have an answer for it. Yes i have an answer, but i wish i could get some document to support my points. please anyone can help me. A written guideline or a standard can help to fight this out.

please anyone can help me?

regds

Ajmal

Dear Ajmal,

I hope you get some reference from the thread below.

http://www.ifsqn.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11720

My answer would be no also for the sandwiches as the cold chain is broken.If the Jam & butter crossoints are served (if jam & butter are not stored in separate packets), I would agree with your point, as there are chances for contamination. Time : temperature ratio plays a key role from the time it is prepared till consumed. I have seen a table with published min & max growth requirements for food borne pathogens being posted in the forum...requires some searching.

Interesting point for your question regarding dry ice.

"Dry ice is not an acceptable answer for transporting food to the aircraft. Dry ice can cause unconsciousness to the person delivering the food due to a depletion of oxygen in the air. Cold food should be transported at 40oF (4oC) degrees or below, and hot food should be transported at 140oF (60oC) degrees or above."

www.corporateflyer.net

Dears, Thank you for valuable replies,

jean the dry ice loaded is as per std minimum requirement, and is kept is separate drawers which comes on top of the food trolley (no diract contact with the food. and abt the temperatures for inflight meals, its a cook chill process and maitaining a cold chain till the product is heated on board.

the threads given were informative still if my search is on for a legal standard on this, please if someone can help me on this.

thanks and regds

Ajmal

Dear ajmal,

This is only a partial answer to yr question but illustrates the logic. Taken from the US FDA food code (2001, updated 2004). Not specifically for airlines but probably equally applies -

3-306.14 Returned Food and Reservice of Food.*
• (A) Except as specified in ¶ (B) of this section, after being served or sold and in the possession of a consumer, food that is unused or returned by the consumer may not be offered as food for human consumption.

• (B) Except as specified under ¶ 3-801.11©, a container of food that is not potentially hazardous may be transferred from one consumer to another if:

o (1) The food is dispensed so that it is protected from contamination and the container is closed between uses, such as a narrow-neck bottle containing catsup, steak sauce, or wine; or

o (2) The food, such as crackers, salt, or pepper, is in an unopened original package and is maintained in sound condition.

http://www.cfsan.fda...dms/fc01-3.html


However the restriction link in paragraph B above may well cancel the options (1) and (2) in most (all?) practical situations.

I appreciate that you are presumably referring to food which has never been served however, similar to yr own comments, would obviously be necessary to demonstrate that any subsquent intermediate activities / usage cannot possibly present a safety risk. I imagine that for airlines, any restictions may be even more strict than above so that no-one wishes to attempt such justifications. Are airline items like unserved packages of biscuits and the like (ie not usually considered hazardous) normally reused (my guess is yes but was not quite sure exactly what kind of "food" your original post referred to ?

In addition above extract, can see this official training document based on the above food code –

http://www.cfsan.fda...r/rfi-x2-1.html
(eg see notes 6D, 7D

Rgds / Charles.C

Thanx charles,

Its quite a good reply, and is useful, sorry for the delayed reply as there was some problem in the network which prevented me from replying.

charles if you can help to get me some docs which is specific to airline catering which states the above issue it will be nice

regards

Ajmal

• (B) Except as specified under ¶ 3-801.11©, a container of food that is not potentially hazardous may be transferred from one consumer to another if:

- Traceability!

o (1) The food is dispensed so that it is protected from contamination and the container is closed between uses, such as a narrow-neck bottle containing catsup, steak sauce, or wine; or

- Disposables single use packs are used in airlines.

....the quotes appear more applicable to food service operators on the "ground" rather than airline catering. However foods served to airline passengers are certainly subject to elevated risk assessment / control measures since emergency medical aids (except limited) cannot truly be part of an emergency response program.

Suzuki,

i agree with you, if u have some materials regarding this can u post it?

regards

ajmal

http://www.ifsqn.com...showtopic=11720

this reference from Jean + applying generic risk assessment techniques in determining your HACCP Plan and OPRPs should be able to take you through.

One interesting point is that risk exposure differs from point to point destinations (long, medium and short haul) including upload of fresh foods at interim destinations would impact food shelf life vis-a-vis storage temperature / time, packaging type, food type ... etc.

Thanx suzuki,

Hope i can solve the issue in this way.

regards

Ajmal

Thanx suzuki,

Hope i can solve the issue in this way.

regards

Ajmal

Hi Ajmal,
Were you able to get the required document.

I am eager to see any further documents you got on this.

I want to add another topic.

I believe in EU and USA round catering (International Flights carrying the food for both sectors - First and return sector) is not allowed. They have to take fresh catering for return sector from the station.

Does anybody have any thing to justify this.

Thanks in advance for usual help.


Regards

Gourav