Flying Food Group Faces Safety Complaint Over Alleged Unsanitary Conditions at LAX Facility

A labor union representing workers at Flying Food Group's Los Angeles-area catering operation has filed a detailed complaint with California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health, alleging widespread sanitary and safety violations at facilities serving more than a dozen international carriers.

The 16-page filing from UNITE HERE Local 11 centers on a June 23 incident in which a dish-room employee reportedly opened an airline service cart to find dozens of bowls containing decomposing food covered in what appeared to be mold, maggots, and flies. When the worker requested permission to discard the items, a supervisor allegedly refused and ordered the dishes sanitized through the industrial dishwasher for use on an upcoming flight, according to the complaint.

The union's submission includes dated photographs, video documentation, and multiple worker accounts describing cockroaches near food preparation areas and airline carts, dark growth on dish-room ceilings, restrooms lacking soap, excessive heat in work areas, and delivery trucks with malfunctioning refrigeration units. Workers documented what they identified as insects near food storage areas and equipment serving carriers including Lufthansa, Air France, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and Hawaiian Airlines, among others.

The employee who handled the disputed dishes on June 23 wore multiple pairs of gloves but received no respiratory protection, and subsequently reported stomach pain, headache, and nasal irritation, according to the complaint. She expressed concern that processing contaminated items could compromise the dishwasher's water system.

Flying Food Group, which describes itself as operating more than 19 catering facilities with an "uncompromising food safety culture," has not been linked to any confirmed passenger illness related to these allegations. The company previously stepped in to serve American Airlines during a 2017 supply disruption involving another caterer at the same airport. The union has requested an expedited on-site inspection by state regulators of the company's central kitchen and warehouse locations in the Los Angeles area.