Have you ever wondered what happens to uneaten plane food? Well, wonder no further. It turns out that what you may have already suspected is true: The food is discarded and destroyed. Most of the time, the food is not composted and unfortunately, simply becomes waste, even if it was unused and unopened.
Any leftover food on a flight is seen as contaminated with the possibility of spreading food-borne illnesses, and this policy is pretty standard across the airline industries, both nationally and internationally. The airlines will have the leftover food carted to a nearby facility where it is burned in hot ovens or incinerators and destroyed. Sometimes the food waste also ends up deep in our earth, buried. Anything not destroyed, burned, or buried will end up crowding landfills. Presently, the best way for flight passengers to help reduce food waste is to simply not book a flight. However, airlines have been working to reduce food waste in recent years. For example, in Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific sends leftover food to facilities that can turn it into fish feed for farms to use. As legal restraints and strict regulations lift, airlines will be able to start donating more unused food to food banks. Some have done so in the past, but food poisoning hindered the efforts.
There are many ways to tackle airline food waste, including using AI and pre-ordering meals
Airlines have also been tapping into artificial intelligence (AI) resources to help track and reduce food waste. AI can determine whether or not a passenger will actually board the flight and can help the airlines order the exact number of meals needed per flight, thus helping reduce food waste. Also, when given the opportunity, passengers can help by pre-ordering their in-flight meals. Note that airlines may also charge for in-flight meals, which can deter passengers from ordering the food, thus reducing food waste.
We understand that food tastes different on an airplane and sometimes, it’s hard to finish it and becomes waste. Luckily, there’s a simple hack to help make your in-flight meals taste better: Bring a small container of your favorite sauce or hot sauce to help season your meal. Now, let’s say you’re given the opportunity to pre-order a meal, but you would rather not do that. What do you do then? Well, you can bring your own meals on the plane, such ingredients to build a charcuterie board, an elaborate snack the TSA is cool with passengers bringing on their flights. We can all do our little parts to help reduce food waste when taking a flight.
