While it may be the start to bad stand-up routine, the question, “What’s the deal with airline food?” is becoming a common one around the foodservice industry. It’s also the start of a more complicated discussion as to how airline food should be categorized and labeled. Is it considered restaurant-type food? That would make it covered under the FDA menu labeling requirements. Is it considered a retail packaged good? That would make it covered by the Nutrition Labeling Education Act, as well as the Food Allergy Labeling and Consumer Protection Act. Or, is airline food in a different category all its own?
In the FDA menu labeling guidelines, there are several requirements for a foodservice establishment to be considered covered by the law. One such requirement is that the establishment must have more than 20 physical locations. Since airplanes do not have fixed positions where they conduct business, they are exempt from the menu labeling guidelines. This can also be said for other transportation services such as trains, and even mobile food trucks. While prepared, restaurant-type meals can be served on an airplane and potentially be ordered from an onboard menu, they are not required to have any nutritional labeling. Additionally, there are currently not any requirements for restaurants and other foodservice establishments to list ingredients or allergens of their items, it’s always highly recommended to provide this information to guest or passengers as long as it is accurate and dependable.
Food sold as retail has a slew of legal requirements. Nutrition fact panels and ingredient statements are just two of many pieces of information that must be posted to all packaged goods. Foods sold on an airplane that comes prepackaged are held to some of these guidelines, including full ingredient and allergen declarations. Nutrition labeling requirements depends on whether or not nutritional claims are being made, but it won’t be a surprise if passengers start looking for this information since they’ll be seeing it more and more in restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores, and other foodservice establishments.
The answer to, “What’s the deal with airline food?” might not be cut and dry, but figuring out how the FDA categorizes the food is the first step. Transparency in foods being served is always a good idea, as consumers are starting to look for this information anywhere they’re dining. Partnering with a third party can help navigate through all of these regulations and help wade through the legal requirements with a subject matter expert by your side.
