American Airlines’ in-flight meals could be a year old before you’re given it
IF you want the freshest food for your in-flight meal, you might want to avoid ordering the specialist options such as vegan and gluten free.
This is because in some cases, the food could have been prepared up to a year in advance before they're served.
American Airlines, who recently made changes to their specialist meals, has confirmed with Sun Online Travel that it could be the case for some of their offering.
The change was recently reported in , who revealed that for American Airlines passengers: "Diabetic, Asian Vegetarian, Hindu, Muslim, Gluten Free, and Vegan meals will receive standardised and frozen pre-prepared meals, which will have a one year frozen shelf life."
An American Airlines spokesperson told Sun Online Travel: "We recently moved to a new vendor to prepare our special meals in order to ensure that we are consistently delivering meals with the correct ingredients to our customers with specific dietary needs.
"With the volume we serve onboard, using pre-prepared special meals ensures the highest level of accuracy and prevents us from serving customers food they cannot consume."
But while the food has a shelf life of up to a year, it doesn't necessarily mean that your in-flight meal will be that old - it just might not be as fresh as a normal meal.
Normal plane food is often made much closer to the time of the flight.
Peter Jones, a retired professor of travel catering from Surrey University, told the : "Usually, the meals are made between 12 and 72 hours in advance."
He adds that meals can be chilled up to "five days" before a flight.
Plane food is notorious for being questionable, with passengers frequently sharing the worst and most disgusting meals they've been served.
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Beige meals and sparse sandwiches are just some of the most hideous offerings.
A frequent flyer previously revealed the airlines that serve the best food, including Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines.
Curry and ice cream are the best to order for the tastiest options.