1

Read the expiry date on a long haul BA flight earlier this week and it was July 2021. Is this the standard with BA and also other airlines? Is it similar for Club and First meals or are they made just before the flight?

The chicken in the meal was very dry, will probably get something at Pret for my next flight as I worry about the preservatives added to keep food good for so long.

Starship73

This may be a stupid question but did it say ‘July 2021’ literally, or in a format that could potentially be open to misinterpretation (eg due to US vs rest of the world date formats)?

1

It was July 2021. Was very clear, no formatting confusion possible.

flatlander

Economy meals are prepared in bulk and kept frozen until near the time they are loaded into the aircraft and heated on board. Even items manufacured for domestic consumption, without the rigorous controls applied to airline food, can have storage lives of 15 months. Once loaded into the aircraft, the life of a meal is much shorter - hours.

Business and First meals are typically prepared from fresh ingredients and chilled for transit to the aircraft and on board.

elwe

You don't necessarily need to add preservatives. Some food is irradiated to kill bacteria and then keeps for a very long time so long as it stays sealed. People don't like to think of their food as being irradiated, so this isn't publicised.

Some food has a much shorter best before date printed on it so that it appears fresher, even though it doesn't make a bit of difference, people don't like seeing that it will last for years.

Can I help you

This is completely normal for meals in World Traveller, absolutely nothing wrong with this as the meals are frozen after production, take a look in the frozen meals in the supermarket, the meals in the other cabins are fresh food blast chilled but not frozen.

flatlander

You don't need to add preservatives, or irradiate food, to keep it edible if you freeze it - especially in a carefully-controlled commercial kitchen.

V10

They shouldn't be getting anywhere near these dates if they're managing their stock rotations correctly.

That said, it's this sort of thing which will inevitably make some regard economy class catering with a certain amount of suspicion, before even getting as far as actually eating it.

Greenpen

I think there might be food in my freezer that could be two or three years old. Anonymous containers with something or other inside are occasionally defrosted, smelt, prodded and eaten.

Might be some Birds Eye beef dinners right at the back!

balowlyblue

What about WTP - is the main still derived from the club menu? Presume if so would be fresher?

Can I help you

As I said above WT plus meals are freshly prepared.

dddc

Given that it's Feb 20, the meal has the potential to last that long, but in reality you've probably had it within weeks of being made. I'n sure an accountant somewhere has done the cost analysis of storing a years worth of meals vs the cost of making them in batches etc.

If it's frozen, then it doesn't need preservatives in it. Remember, frozen peas have more vitamins in them than fresh ones that have taken a week to get to the shop from the farm.

I flew Thomas Cook a couple of days before they went bust. The James Martin (famous (?) tv chef) meal onboard had been frozen and had an expiry date 11 months hence. It was a cooked breakfast and ranked as one worst I had. Powdery eggs. Rubbery meats. I was glad I pigged out in the lounge beforehand.


I often make slow cooker meals that I freeze the excess. It's annoying when I defrost something that I thought was spag bog only to find its chilli and I've prepared pasta and not rice. I've had stuff in there past the 12 month mark.

mnhusker

WT meals can soon be used like MRE's

(For those who don't know, these are American military long life meals. They often taste not so good and so the acronym MRE is suggested to be not Meals Ready to Eat but Meals Rejected by Everyone! ).

flatlander

Label everything with the date and the contents, and then you'll be able to boggle at exactly what you're eating and exactly how old it is.

HIDDY

I've still got an old trout in the freezer I caught in Patagonia many years ago. Pretty sure it'd be okay to eat but I've got kind of attached to it.