“As a precaution, Delta teams proactively adjusted our in-flight meal service on select international flights on Wednesday, July 3,” a Delta spokeswoman said in a statement to CNBC.
Delta apologized to customers after a report of spoiled food in the cabin on the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam.
“This is not the service Delta is known for and we sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delays during their travel,” Delta said.
Ash Dhokte, Delta’s head of in-flight service, wrote in an email to employees Wednesday that the airline is investigating what went wrong and “immediate corrective actions have been taken to prevent a recurrence.”
Do&Co., a caterer from the Delta, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“As a last line of defense, we would like to ensure that we examine the dish before serving it and do not serve food that may be contaminated,” Dhokte wrote, noting that food safety incidents on board are “extremely rare.”
The incident came amid the peak summer travel season, when Delta and its rivals are fighting for travelers. Airlines serve thousands of meals to customers a day, and such incidents are rare, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel consultant and founder of Atmosphere Research Group.
“Delta is taking sensible action. If there is a food crisis, you don’t want someone getting sick on a plane,” Harteveldt said. “Eating only pasta is the safest and smartest option.”
The airline industry faces another challenge: a potential strike by workers at major inflight caterer Gate Gourmet. Federal mediators exempted Gate Gourmet and its unions from mediation earlier this week, clearing the way for a potential strike in late July.
“Gate Gourmet provides service at 19 domestic stations and we are reviewing strategies to minimize disruption to you and our customers should an outage occur,” Delta’s Dhokte said in a staff message on Wednesday.