Survey: Airline Food Is Fattening
Airline food is not celebrated for its taste or contribution to world cuisine. A new report, though, has found many of those same meals are relatively unhealthy when it comes to fat and salt content.
CBS News Co-Anchor Jane Clayson spoke with Charles Platkin, the CEO of eFit.com, which conducted a survey of airline food.
Platkin was sitting on a flight to San Francisco when the thought hit him that the food not only tastes bad but it probably isn't good for you.
He decided to find out through a survey of airline food. "It's extremely high in sodium and also in calories," Platkin says. "We surveyed 15 airlines, and we found that they had about 1,054 on average in calories, 52 grams of fat" per meal, he says. On top of that there was about 2,000 milligrams of sodium.
"You have to compare that an average person should really consume about 2,000 calories for the whole day, and about 65 grams of fat and only 2,400 milligrams of sodium for the entire day," he says.
Eating an average economy class meal is equivalent, he says, to consuming "a big Mac, french fries and a strawberry sundae." Or it compares to four slices of pepperoni pizza.
While the survey was conducted, the airlines "were extremely uncooperative except for Continental and Virgin," Platkin says. "They were totally unwilling to give us even the meals themselves, and we obviously understand why."
"We criticize them specifically for not giving out to passengers nutritional information but not necessarily for the meals that they're serving," Platkin adds.
And don't expect a better nutritional deal on first class. "You get more fat for your money when you fly first class," he says.
"In the food industry, they have a saying, 'Fat equals flavor.' I think that it's pretty obvious when you fly first class, they're trying to make the food more flavorful," he says.
The airlines may argue that they're giving people what they want after conducting their own surveys.
"We don't criticize them for giving the passengers the food they want but specifically (for) not giving people a choice and having them have the knowledge that the food is not very healthy for them," Platkin observes.
What can passengers do if they don't want to eat a fatty meal in flight?
One option is to order a special meal in advance.
"When you make your reservation,...order a special meal. Many airlines have over 25 special different meals," Platkin notes.
Another possibility is to eat before you go or to pack your own snacks.
"Or even brown-bag it and bring your own food," he says.