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Crew meal separation: a control that assumes catering failure is possible

The requirement that cockpit crew eat separately prepared meals exists because the industry accepts catering food safety failure can occur.

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Incident evidence note

What this public record shows

GCCAP Ground Cold-Chain Assurance Platform Incident Database
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Record GL-24

Crew meal separation: a control that assumes catering failure is possible

Date of recordEstablished following 1975; industry-wide
LocationInternational
TypeIndustry control practice
Source tierTier 1 — peer-reviewed literature and documented airline policy

What the record shows

Following the 1975 Anchorage outbreak, the operating airline mandated that cockpit crew eat different meals prepared by different cooks. Other carriers adopted equivalent practice, and the recommendation appears in the contemporaneous medical literature.

The control exists to prevent a single catering failure from incapacitating an entire flight deck.

Evidence gap

Crew meal separation is a mitigation, not a prevention. It reduces the consequence of catering failure without reducing its likelihood, and it does not apply to passengers. Its existence records an industry-wide acceptance that catering failure remains possible.

Included because it documents the aviation industry's own assessment of catering risk, expressed as an operational control.

GCCAP boundary

Evidence support only

GCCAP uses public records to identify evidence gaps in temperature-sensitive food movement. It does not certify food safety, declare legal compliance, assign liability or allege fault.