DELAURO URGES ACTION ON FOOD SAFETY VIOLATIONS BY AIRLINE CATERERS

DELAURO URGES ACTION ON FOOD SAFETY VIOLATIONS BY AIRLINE CATERERS

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3), Ranking Member on the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, sent a letter to Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, today asking for details about food safety violations in the airline catering industry.

Over the past few years, FDA inspections have found that many airline catering kitchens violate food safety standards by storing food at improper temperatures, using unclean equipment and employ workers who practice poor hygiene. Inspectors also encountered cockroaches, flies, mice, and other signs of inadequate pest control at some facilities. Congresswoman DeLauro also requested that employees of airline caterers receive appropriate whistleblower protection should they come forward to report food safety problems.

The text of the letter is below.

March 3, 2011


Margaret Hamburg, M.D.
Commissioner
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
10903 New Hampshire Ave
Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002

Dear Dr. Hamburg:

I am writing to express concern about the safety of food that is served on airplanes and to request that employees of airline caterers receive appropriate whistleblower protection under the newly enacted FDA Food Safety Modernization Act should they come forward to report food safety problems.

As you know, several FDA inspection reports have found that many airline catering kitchens violate food safety standards by storing food at improper temperatures, using unclean equipment and employ workers who practice poor hygiene. The report noted that inspectors also encountered cockroaches, flies, mice, and other signs of inadequate pest control at some facilities.

In addition, FDA inspectors in December 2009 and November 2010 issued warning letters to LSG Sky Chefs, which has been described in published news reports as the world’s largest airline caterer. The December 2009 warning letter was issued after live roaches and roach carcasses “too numerous to count” were found inside its Denver facility, while the November 2010 letter reported serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation in its Austin facility. Given that LSG Sky Chefs provide approximately 405 million meals worldwide for more than 300 airlines, it is very disturbing to think many airplane meals were prepared in these unsanitary conditions.

It recently came to my attention that employees of LSG Sky Chefs are aware of substandard conditions elsewhere in the food preparation system within the company that has gone uninspected. These employees could be very helpful in providing the FDA with a complete picture of the problem and its causes. However, these employees reportedly are reluctant to come forward to report these food safety problems to the FDA because of concerns over possible retaliation by their employer.

Under Section 402 of the newly enacted FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, “No entity engaged in the manufacture, processing, packing, transporting, distribution, reception, holding, or importation of food may discharge an employee or otherwise discriminate against an employee with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because the employee, whether at the employee’s initiative or in the ordinary course of the employee’s duties.” Given this language, I would strongly urge the FDA to enforce this new whistleblower protection provision if employees of airline caterers come forward to report food safety problems and are subject to retaliation by their employer.

In addition to addressing the concerns about adequate whistleblower protection, please respond to the following questions:

• Subsequent to the re-inspection of LSG Sky Chef’s Denver facility regarding the unsanitary conditions outlined in the December 2009 warning letter, has FDA been able to return to this facility for a new inspection? If so, what were the results of the inspection reports?

• What is the status of the November 2010 warning letter to LSG Sky Chef’s Austin facility about the serious violations of the seafood HACCP regulation? Did the Austin facility correct this violation and is it now in compliance?

• What are the results of any recent FDA inspections of the largest airline caterers? How often have they been inspected in the past? What has been FDA’s history on imposing fines on airline caterers when violations are found?

Thank you for your attention to this issue. I look forward to the responses to these questions and to working with you on this issue going forward.

Sincerely,


ROSA L. DeLAURO Ranking Member
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies