Meal coding to be key issue at in-flight feeders confab

Nation's Restaurant News, April 17, 1989 by Bill Carlino

Meal coding to be key issue at in-flight feeders confab

SAN DIEGO -- A proposal to adopt a standardized code for airline special meal requests and an ingredient- labeling amendment will top the agenda at the 1989 Inflight Food Service Association's Conference and Trade Show April 22-25.

About 800 in-flight feeding contractors, suppliers, and airline representatives will convene here at the Marriott Hotel and Marina for the three-day event, which includes 145 exhibits and 12 separate industry workshops.

According to Mike Marchant, president of 300-member IFSA, one of the vital questions of this year's conference will be whether North America-based airlines will adhere to the special meal coding now employed by the Association of European Airlines.

"There is a growing demand for special meals on airlines," Marchant said. "If the American and Canadian carriers accepted the standard AEA codes, travel agents could punch the proper number and letter sequences when filling out passenger tickets."

Marchant added that in addition to the medical dietary restrictions of certain passengers, the standardized coding would be tailored to meet religious requirements as well.

"When a passenger books a flight in Europe, he wants to be sure he can get that same special meal on a plane to California," said Jane Ruddick, manager of catering standards for Canadian Airlines International and vice president of IFSA. "Each in-flight caterer has to work with the airlines and draw up a list of foods which cannot go into special meals."

Included on the IFSA conference agenda will be Proposition 65, a labeling amendment proposed by California.

Proposition 65 would mandate listing the individual ingredients for each airline meal the way it appears on a can of soda or loaf of bread.

In the wake of increased terrorism, both airlines and in-flight caterers are mulling over proposals that would require a five-year background check before hiring someone in a food-service capacity.

"There is also talk of each meal container being bound with a special tape prior to leaving the kitchen," Marchant said. "This seal cannot be broken until the meal is ready to be served. If the real is damaged for any reason, even by accident, the meal is discarded."

Among the industry panelists scheduled to speak at the conference are Len Schlesinger, a professor at the Harvard Business School and former executive vice president of the Au Bon Pain bakery chain, and Koji Shinmachi, vice president of marketing for Japan Air Lines.