The pathetic state of airline food has become a running joke among travelers. But aside from being less than palatable, there's nothing wrong with it, right? Think again.
An investigation by ABC's "20/20" revealed that more than 1,500 health violations had been identified by FDA inspectors throughout the past four years, including things like dirty cooking areas, old or moldy products and employees not washing their hands. Oh, and roaches and mice.
At one facility, ABC reports, inspectors found "roaches, gnats ("too numerous to count"), unrefrigerated food, utensils on dirty racks, and more." Though the company, Gate Gourmet, brushed it off saying: "None of the FDA's observations ... indicated a threat to the health of the traveling public."
This isn't entirely new news, though. Back in 2010, an FDA report showed many facilities storing food at improper temperatures, using unclean equipment and workers practicing poor hygiene. At some, there were also sightings of cockroaches, flies, mice and other indications of inadequate pest control.
That might explain incidents like passengers on both Air Canada and Delta found needles in sandwiches served in-flight, and a Qantas passenger found maggots in an in-flight snack.
To hear all about ABC's findings (if you dare) watch the video below, and check out the full "20/20" report, with statements from the offending food manufacturers here.