Microbiological quality of cold meals served by airlines

The microbiological quality of 675 cold meals prepared for sewing on aircraft was studied in 1991-1994. The material consisted of appetizers, salads and desserts prepared in 33 countries. The geometric mean of aerobic colony counts, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were significantly lower in desserts (p<0.05) than in salads and appetizers. Salmonella was not found in any of the samples. Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens were found in 50 samples (7%). In respect off. coli, S. aureus and B. cereus, the samples exceeded the Routine microbiological standards for aircraft-ready food accepted by the Association of European Airlines by 14%, 7% and 3%, respectively There were considerable differences in aerobic colony counts E. coli and B. cereus counts between countries where the food was prepared.