B767 captain advised flight crew meals aren't not properly stored prior to consumption; the primary ...

Narrative:

When we got to the plane; it had been apparently sitting with the power off and galley chillers off for 5 hours since its arrival. The galleys are through from the mainland. By the time we get the pilot crew meals; they are already 10-12 hours old. They were unrefrigerated for 5 hours. Company procedure for an arrival gate message; says to turn all aircraft power off. This is a big problem if we have through galleys with crew meals aboard. This problem was originally identified by the pilots' union; which notified the company of the problem. Policy has not changed and there is a large probability of food poisoning by spoiled crew meals in flight causing a huge safety problem. Possible solutions: 1. Leave power on the plane and keep the meals refrigerated 2. Go back to catering in the islands; 3. Get just crew meals in the islands or 4. Delay every single departure while we get our own; contractually required crew meals leading to a delay over something as simple as spoiled food.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B767 Captain advised flight crew meals aren't not properly stored prior to consumption; the primary concern is failure to refrigerate them on the ground at enroute stops.

Narrative: When we got to the plane; it had been apparently sitting with the power off and galley chillers off for 5 hours since its arrival. The galleys are through from the mainland. By the time we get the pilot crew meals; they are already 10-12 hours old. They were unrefrigerated for 5 hours. Company procedure for an arrival gate message; says to turn all aircraft power off. This is a big problem if we have through galleys with crew meals aboard. This problem was originally identified by the pilots' union; which notified the company of the problem. Policy has not changed and there is a large probability of food poisoning by spoiled crew meals in flight causing a huge safety problem. Possible solutions: 1. Leave power on the plane and keep the meals refrigerated 2. Go back to catering in the islands; 3. Get just crew meals in the islands or 4. Delay every single departure while we get our own; contractually required crew meals leading to a delay over something as simple as spoiled food.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	837099
Time
Date	200905
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-300 and 300 ER
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 16000 Flight Crew Type 5500
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

B767 captain advised flight crew meals aren't not properly stored prior to consumption; the primary concern is failure to refrigerate them on the ground at enroute stops.