Case Summary
On October 6, 2013, nearly 50 passengers on an Air China flight that was bound for Beijing fell ill with symptoms such as vomiting, stomachaches and diarrhea (Coello 1). The cause of the issue was apparently due to the cabin crew serving the passengers in-flight meals that were already past their expiration date. The end result was that nearly 50 people contracted mild to serious cases of food poisoning which could have untold future repercussions for their health depending on the severity of their individual cases (Coello 1).
The following are the issues that have been identified as being the most damning when it comes to airline safety violations:
Gross Negligence
The first issue is the sheer gross negligence of both the supply chain of the airline as well as the cabin crew that was involved. The food services division of an airline needs to ensure that the products they serve are safe for consumption. This should be the main focus of their operations and it is expected in all cases that this division uphold some means of ensuring that the food is safe for consumption. The mere fact that expired food was on the flight at all is a serious safety violation and is indicative of gross negligence on the part of the food services division since it shows that improper food handling standard operating procedures are not in place to prevent such an issue from happening. Aside from this, the cabin crew is also liable since it was noted in the article that the prepackaged food items were clearly labeled with an expiration date. They should not have served the food at all if this was the case and, as such, shows that the cabin crew was also negligent in their duties.
Potential Catastrophic Disruption of Flight Operations
Aside from the issue of significant negligence in operations, it should also be noted that another safety issue was the potential catastrophic disruption of flight operations that could have occurred if the pilots on duty at the time came down with similar food poisoning symptoms. This could have resulted in impaired judgment and inadequate control over the plane that could have resulted in a plane crash.
Airline Cutting Corners
When examining the case of food poisoning on the flight, it is likely that the reason why the incident occurred was due to the airline attempting to save money. Serving expired food was most likely connected to the sheer wastefulness associated with merely throwing the food away which would have resulted in some financial losses for the airline. As such, in order to cut costs, the airline likely implemented a policy that food items could still be served if it was only a few days past the expiration date. Potential justifications behind the implementation of such a policy could be due to the fact that the food items in question were refrigerated and, as such, could have helped to preserve them. The inherent problem with the implementation of such a policy is that the refrigeration mechanism needed to slow down the expiration of food to such an extent (i.e. large freezers) are not used on airplanes. The end result is that the food continues to expire, albeit at a slower rate, which then causes the incident that was reported in this paper.
Link to Website Article
www.en.rocketnews24.com
Works Cited
Coello, Joan. “Air China Serves Expired In-flight Food, Mid-air Rush for the Restroom Follows Shortly after.” RocketNews. RocketNews24, 2013. Web.