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Comment by Beijinger | Hacker News Reader

"have gotten food poisoning on board."

This is highly unlikely. Think about what would happen, if XX% of the passengers get food poisoning. Airplane food is probably one of the safest in the world from this perspective.

I indeed got food poisoning once on a plane. I assume (!) it was caused by food from the lounge in the airport in Addis Ababa. But not from food served in the plane.

But for sure would make a funny scene for a movie. 200 people shitting their guts out and competing for 4 toilets.

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That how food poisoning works on TV. It's not how food poisoning typically works in reality. https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/symptoms.html

"Diarrhea, Vomiting" from your link. Trust me. I had it on a plane.

The thing is that you can never be positive that the poisoning comes from the last meal, a previous one, or getting germs in your hands somewhere else and having them transfered hands to mouth sonetimes inbetween.

It is simply dishonest to accuse someone of food poisoning in a review unless statistics points to it (like an x amount of passenger of same flight suffering from the same symptoms).

Did you understand my posting? I never said I got it on a plane. I said I HAD it on a plane. And I said, plane food is basically the least likely to give you food poisoning.

> Did you understand my posting?

Yes. Yes we did. You said “Think about what would happen, if XX% of the passengers get food poisoning.” Which kinda implies that you think it would have somehow disastrous consequences on the plane. While in reality symptomps often don’t appear fast enough for that.

You also said “Airplane food is probably one of the safest in the world from this perspective.” for which you provided no source. Is this something you speculate? Or know as a fact?

You also said “it was caused by food from the lounge in the airport in Addis Ababa”. And it is quite right pointing it out that you have almost no way you can be certain about that.

> I never said I got it on a plane.

Nobody says that you said that. We are talking about people who say they got it on the plane because that is what the influencer in question did.

"While in reality symptomps often don’t appear fast enough for that."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Air_Lines_food_poisoning...

"for which you provided no source. Is this something you speculate? Or know as a fact?"

Logic deduction. In the incidence above the United States Public Health Service led the investigation. Also, a plane may have to make an emergency landing. Trust me. If you run an airline. YOU DON'T WANT THAT.

"You also said "

You omitted that "I assume (!)" from my sentence. And regards to food safety I was specific about food served on air planes, not in a lounge.

"influencer in question did."

Yes. And I think this is unlikely.

Yes, in extreme cases illness can set in within an hour. But a) that isn't the typical case for food poisoning, and b) it isn't clear that even this short of a timeline would be enough for the flight in question as it's less than two hours long

Your original post said

> I indeed got food poisoning once on a plane.

and it sounds like you meant that you experienced the effects of food poisoning on a plane. But most might read that as you saying you contracted it on a plane.

Getting food poisoning and vomiting from said food poisoning are different. Most people refer to where they “got” food poisoning as the food source, not where the effects happen.

Just a wording confusion here.

> got food poisoning once on a plane

> I never said I got it on a plane

You literally did say you got food poisoning on a plane.

It's the timeline. It's not likely to occur during the flight

> Think about what would happen, if XX% of the passengers get food poisoning.

As amusing as that image may be -- the effects of food poisoning aren't usually felt for about 6 hours. So it would only be a problem on very long international flights, if an earlier meal was to blame...

But in any case, airplane food isn't "one of the safest", it's just "regular safe". They don't have higher food safety standards than restaurants or other institutional food prep, although they probably do adhere to those standards correctly, rather than some cheap independently-owned restaurants trying to cut costs by keeping food past when it should be considered expired.

They can make easier "safe" vs "taste good" decisions.

I mean, make no mistake. Most food served in airlines, as long as you are not flying Turkish Business Class :-), tastes like shit. But it is safe shit.

There's no such tradeoff between food safety and flavor in general.

There are some dishes people may prefer less cooked (steaks, eggs) or uncooked (steak tartare), but airlines don't generally serve those in the first place. But even with those, there isn't any kind of tradeoff between safety and flavor. Steak tartare doesn't get tastier the longer you leave the steak lying around. Nor does sushi get tastier if the fish is starting to turn. It's quite the opposite.

There are some fermented and similar foods that can get tastier with age (cheese), but again there's generally no tradeoff with safety. As cheese ages, it may grow stronger in flavor, but it's not generally getting less safe. Conversely, when it goes bad after it's cut open and left on a warm counter, it wasn't developing flavor beforehand while sitting there.

(There might be some rare exceptions, but they're just that -- exceptions.)

I found Turkish economy class good to be quire good as well

Man dies on Lufthansa flight after coughing up 'litres of blood' The plane was forced to turn around after the passenger, said to be a German national aged 63, was pronounced dead on board. One witness described the scene as "absolute horror" - adding: "Everyone was screaming."

https://news.sky.com/story/man-dies-on-lufthansa-flight-afte...

My first (and of cause wrong) thought would have been: Ebola! Would have been scared to death.

This is silly. You can get food poisoning when one person fails to wash their hands properly after leaving the restroom.

I got severe food poisoning from chicken served on an Air France flight. It hit around three hours after the meal. Memorable experience.

This makes sense. Your personal experience getting food poisoning on a plane is an illustration of how nobody gets food poisoning on planes

You may assume that airlines are going to great length to avoid exactly this problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Air_Lines_food_poisoning...

So, no "Snakes on a plane" but "Shitting on a plane"

And only one person getting a problem? Look, I don't know what happened. But his story is suspicious.

EDIT. But possible

“It is exceedingly unlikely for anyone to become ill from consuming a meal served on a flight, especially given the rigorous food safety standards and process controls Gategroup adheres to,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Although food poisoning on planes “absolutely happens,” said Anthony Harris, chief executive and medical director of the occupational medicine practice HFit Health, “it’s not a terribly common issue.”

My takeaway from our conversations: You’re not any more likely to get food poisoning on a flight than anywhere else. https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/tips/airplane-food-poi...

This makes sense. Because food poisoning on a plane “absolutely happens” it is highly unlikely that this guy got food poisoning on a plane

Getting struck by lightning absolutely happens, other things absolutely happen more absolutely.

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