8 Disgusting Things Found in Airline Food

Maggots

Maggots are high in protein and considered a delicacy in some countries, but somehow we don't think these fun facts were any comfort to the poor Qantas flyer who found live maggots in her in-flight trail-mix snack. The unfortunate woman discovered the maggots with her mouth as she happily munched away in the dark. Noticing that the "nuts" tasted weird, she turned on her overhead light only to discover writhing maggots in the package. Upon further inspection, at least two other packages were discovered to contain the bugs.

Needles

TSA confiscate all your sharp objects? Just order an in-flight sandwich and you'll have a new weapon in no time. Unlucky passengers on several Delta flights last year were shocked to discover needles in their onboard turkey sandwiches. One flyer was even put on antiretroviral drugs as a precaution after the needle pierced the roof of his mouth. The airline, FBI, and Amsterdam police (where the sandwiches were prepared) all worked to find out how the needles got in the food, but the mystery remains unsolved.

Cholera

Airline food can endanger more than just your taste buds—in 1992, 75 passengers were sickened by tainted seafood salad served on an Aerolinas Argentinas flight, and one man even died. The mass poisoning was eventually linked back to the shrimp—teeming with cholera—that was part of the meal on the Los Angeles-bound flight.

Lizard

Quality control must have really been asleep at the switch to miss a baby lizard in an in-flight meal. A passenger on a Jet Airways flight in India opened his dinner packet and found a dead reptile sitting in the biryani. The flight attendants tried to give the passenger another meal, but he understandably refused.

Glass

Our teeth are hurting just thinking about this. A couple was enjoying an ice cream sundae during their flight from Chicago to Tucson on American Airlines when they both bit down on something suspiciously crunchy. They fished the painful chunks out to find shards of glass. When they alerted the flight attendant, she offered them another scoop of ice cream. (They declined.) The couple was flying in first class, which goes to show you that dangerous airline food doesn't discriminate.

Deadly Bacteria

Who would have thought that an in-flight meal would be the most dangerous part of flying? In December 2011, Othon Cortes' family sued American Airlines, claiming that an in-flight meal killed Othon. The lawsuit alleges that Othon was served a bacteria-tainted meal on a flight from Barcelona to New York that resulted in his untimely death. The Cortes family blames the airline for allegedly mishandling the food storage and preparation, resulting in the contamination of the meal with Clostridium perfringens bacteria.

(Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified LSG Sky Chefs as the caterers of the flight described here. The flight was not catered by LSG Sky Chefs. We apologize for the error.)

Bugs

The airline catering industry made headlines last year when it was revealed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had cited airlines and their outside caterers for more than 1,500 health violations in the past four years. For example, LSG Sky Chefs (a caterer used by many airlines) was found by inspectors to have food facilities that were "infested with ants crawling over discarded food, flies both dead and alive—and roaches all over." Another caterer, Gate Gourmet, reportedly had facilities with "gnats (too numerous to count)."

Cockroach

Here's a reason to always thoroughly inspect your food before eating it: A seven-year-old boy found a cockroach in his meal on an Air India flight. The boy allegedly picked the insect out of his meal and asked his mom what it was—and we're sure the answer was pretty traumatizing for him.

More From Smartertravel:

• Eight Foods You Should Never Eat Before Flying
• Horrifying Health Violations Found at Airline Caterers
• Healthiest Airport Food in the United States