A fire, labor dispute and complaint of maggots: Growing scrutiny of an LAX caterer

Mold, maggots and cockroaches are just the latest, and perhaps the most stomach-churning, charges in a yearlong turmoil engulfing Flying Food Group, an in-flight food company contracted at Los Angeles International Airport.

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On Aug. 5, labor union Unite Here Local 11 with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) against Flying Food Group, which just last week announced it would lay off dozens of employees in Burlingame in October.

The union’s complaint wasn’t about the job cuts, but rather alleged that a worker was forced to clean dishes covered in mold, live maggots and flies so they could be used to serve food for an upcoming flight. The worker was not provided necessary protective equipment, said the complaint, which also listed other alleged issues, such as mold growing on the dish room ceiling, “cockroaches or similar vermin” in the kitchen, failure to provide supplies for proper handwashing and serving expired food to workers.

“The incidents described above are not isolated lapses; collectively, they demonstrate that FFG has failed to establish, implement, and maintain an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program,” the Unite Here Local 11 complaint said. “…Workers have repeatedly identified hazards through the channels available to them—and FFG’s response has too often been to override or ignore them.”

Flying Food Group works out of more than 19 different catering facilities across the United States, providing in-flight cuisine to several international airlines, including Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand, Air France, Lufthansa, Swiss Air Lines, ANA, Japan Airlines and Qantas Airways. The latest complaint is the most recent addition to a list of investigations by Cal/OSHA, the National Labor Relations Board, the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles World Airports, the local authority that owns and operates LAX.

Cal/OSHA has yet to publish any findings on the August complaint. The agency told SFGATE in an email Friday that there were no disclosable records, due to the ongoing investigation. 

A Flying Food Group spokesperson told SFGATE Thursday, “We categorically reject the false and misleading narrative” regarding the complaint and described a drawn-out hostile relationship between the company and the union since 2022. 

“Our review indicates that the images were staged, manipulated, taken out of context, or otherwise presented in a manner that distorts their meaning,” Flying Food Group spokesperson Angelica Carrion told SFGATE in an emailed statement. “We are reviewing how they were created, selected, and presented.”

When Cal/OSHA came to investigate two days after the union filed the complaint, Flying Food Group did not allow the agency to begin its investigation, requiring the agency to obtain a warrant, the union alleged in a letter it sent Aug. 7 to Los Angeles World Airports.

“Workplace safety inspections depend on inspectors’ ability to observe conditions as workers actually experience them — and the hazards documented at FFG’s facilities are precisely the kind that can be quickly altered, staged, or hidden once a company knows an inspection is coming,” Unite Here lawyer Jeremy Blasi said in the letter. “FFG’s denial of access raises serious concerns that the company may be attempting to clean up or conceal unsafe conditions in order to evade accountability.”

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The controversy comes just one month after LAX declined to offer Flying Food Group a standard five-year licensing renewal. Instead, the company was approved for a conditional six-month contract, while Los Angeles World Airports continued reviewing its compliance record, saying allegations may call into question its “trustworthiness, quality, fitness and capacity.” Los Angeles World Airport did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

“Workers have been raising the alarm about wage theft and unsafe and abusive conditions for more than three years,” Unite Here Local 11 spokesperson Maria Hernandez told SFGATE in an email Friday. “It’s long past time that the airlines and the city leadership remove this serial abuser.”

The company has been under intense scrutiny since a fire broke out in January, when the union alleged that two employees were trapped inside a cold storage room during evacuation. Though Flying Food Group said in a letter to Unite Here Local 11 that its internal investigation found no employees were trapped and that security footage showed the coolers were unlocked, Cal/OSHA cited the company in May, saying the cold storage room lacked a door that could be opened from the inside. 

The fire allegations were followed by a complaint with the city’s Bureau of Contract Administration in which workers allege the company was not complying with the LAX Living Wage Ordinance. That investigation is ongoing, according to the Union.

The Aug. 6 complaint remains unresolved. However, Los Angeles World Airports has only a few months to decide whether to extend the company’s six-month contract. 

As the case is investigated, Flying Food Group continues to deny any wrongdoing. 

“We stand firmly behind our food safety and sanitation standards and will cooperate fully with any regulatory review,” Carrion said.