Delta Air Lines has confirmed that it has been forced to pull hot meals from many flights departing its Detroit hub after an unspecified ‘food safety issue’ was identified in the airport’s catering kitchen.
The airline has switched catering provisions to other kitchens because its catering facility at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport has been shut down following a food safety inspection.
Around 200 flights were forced to depart Detroit without hot meals, while others were able to operate with hot meals that had been provisioned from other catering facilities across the Delta network.
“During a recent inspection at a DTW kitchen, Delta’s catering partner was notified of a food safety issue within the facility,” a spokesperson for the airline confirmed on Sunday.
The statement continued: “Delta and its catering partner immediately shut down hot food production and subsequently suspended all activity from the facility. Hot food and other onboard provisioning will be managed from other facilities.”
The inspection and subsequent closure of Delta’s Detroit catering facility comes just months after passengers were served moldy food on an international transatlantic flight from Detroit to Amsterdam.
Delta flight DL136 was forced to make an emergency diversion to New York JFK on July 2 after the food was also potentially served to two of the pilots aboard the Airbus A330 aircraft.
Fearing that the pilots and some of the 277 passengers onboard the aircraft might fall sick during the flight, the crew decided to land the plane in New York, where a fleet of ambulances was waiting just in case anyone had already fallen ill.
The New York and New Jersey Port Authority said it assisted 24 people from the flight, including 14 passengers and ten crew members, although all of those seen refused further medical care.
A day after the diversion, Delta made the decision only to serve vegetarian meals on dozens of flights departing Detroit. The decision, the carrier explained at the time, was made out of “an abundance of caution.”
In an internal memo, Delta’s head of inflight service, Ash Dhokte, told flight attendants that they are the “last line of defense” and implored them to examine meals closely before serving them to passengers.
Dhokte told staffers that “immediate corrective actions have been implemented to avoid recurrence.”
Delta insists that no customers or employees have reported falling sick in the days leading up to the closure of its Detroit catering facility.
Flew Dallas to Detroit last night in first. Flight was catered in Detroit for the round-trip to and from Dallas. While they had hot meals, the choices didn’t align with what was specified for those who pre-ordered. And, interestingly, no snacks and no wine from the bottle that is normally served in first-class. They only had canned economy wines.