ACA releases safety precautions guide for summer
As passengers take to the skies this summer when restrictions on cross-border travel are lifted, additional safety and hygiene measures will be in place to ensure maximum safety for food and beverage service.
The Brussels-based Airline Catering Association (ACA) today announced the 28-page rundown of suggested safety precautions at all levels of the inflight catering supply chain.
“You can travel this summer and enjoy food on board your flight. Food is not connected to virus spread and strict food safety measures refined through decades of air travel remain in place to make sure that all food leaving our kitchens is safe,” said Fabio Gamba, Managing Director of the ACA. “If you travel, you can continue to enjoy your meal onboard with peace of mind.”
ACA has adopted the ACA COVID-19 Guidelines, new safety measures for the industry in order to help its members navigate the pandemic. The ACA COVID-19 Guidelines are built on four guiding principles, known as the 4P’s, which allow for proper risk assessment and the continuation of safe inflight catering: People; Premises/Policies/Processes & Procedures; and Procurement.
Every airport, airline, and aircraft is different. The ACA COVID-19 Guidelines provide additional controls and checklists tailored to the local risk landscape and adaptable as events and circumstances change. They also ensure that measures such as social distancing and personal protective equipment (PPE) are used in medium- to high-risk stages of the pandemic.
Even in a low-risk stage, the ACA says the guidelines support timely facility adaptation to changes. In the event an infection cluster is discovered in a particular region, distancing measures must be implemented without supply-chain disruption. Inflight catering does not carry a risk of transmitting the coronavirus. According to the World Health Organization, there is no evidence to date of viruses that cause respiratory illnesses being transmitted via food or food packaging.
Aircraft design and travel regulations make person-to-person contact on aircraft lower than other forms of contact, such as at home or in offices, says the ACA. The air quality inside an aircraft cabin is exceptionally clean due to vertical air flow and the use of HEPA filters, as well as strict measures to stop infected persons from traveling.
