I think the majority of readers know who Bill Marler is; and since I don’t produce and sell food I can call him a friend. For those who don’t know of Bill, he is the country’s leading litigator for victims of foodborne illness, or, as he calls them, poisoned victims.

So he knows a thing or two about foodborne pathogens and the suffering they can bring, not to mention the expenses, worry and sometimes, chronic diseases.

I read something from him once where he said he does not trust airplane food, partly because the cold chain may have been broken one too many times. He has also penned that for long flights, like to Asia, when he has to eat airplane food he always washes it down with a couple of scotches. I suppose he is hoping, maybe tongue in cheek, that the alcohol will kill any pathogens.

I thought about him and his phobia two weeks ago.

I flew on Monday from Denver to D.C. to attend and participate in the National Institute for Animal Agriculture’s seventh annual conference on antibiotic use in animals raised for food.

I got an amazing break on price for a Business Class seat, so took it and looked forward to a nice lunch served hot with an adult beverage to wash it down, following Marler’s example.

Our flight attendant came out and said something about the caterer and computers that my neighbor and I did not hear clearly above the noise, but we did hear that we had to pick a sandwich off the snack cart for free if we wanted to eat.

I had a cheeseburger and washed it down with a double.

The very next day, while watching the news on my hotel room’s TV, I saw that an airline caterer in Denver had notified my airline Monday morning that routine environmental sampling had come back positive for Listeria.

Now I realize that if I had eaten the lunch they were planning on providing for Monday’s flight that alone would not mean that I had been exposed to Listeria and could expect to get sick.

But I do know that if I had flown on Sunday and eaten food from that caterer, who drew the sample on Friday, that I would have had to wait for 70 days before I knew if I was going to fall ill or not.

And during the next 70 days I have two very long flights booked, one to Singapore. I probably would have chickened out and not risked getting hit with abdominal cramps and diarrhea at 35,000 feet on a 17 hour flight. I am getting too old for that stuff.

So to wind up, I am glad the caterer routinely tests and am extremely glad that my flight was on Monday, not Sunday, even though I remain disappointed in my lunch.

But now I am wondering, and worrying again.

Who catered the food on the snack cart?

Airplane food

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