Why you should always ask for seconds on your inflight meal

Today I must congratulate both Malaysia Airlines (MH) and their inflight catering supplier, the massive international dnata group, for showing our small media group around their compact Halal facility here at Sydney Airport.

Congratulate? Why? Because apart from showing us the stringent hygiene protocols and checks and balances at various steps in the meal preparation, we were able to see the extent of food waste that occurs in the airline industry every day. Normally an airline or caterer would be timid about revealing such matters.

Sheathed in disposable smocks and hairnets, we are ushered to a wash station where we sanitise our hands. Curiously, our hairnets all denote our status. Workers wear plain white, first aid staff wear yellow and leading hands wear red. We, as visitors, are capped in a simple, demure blue.

We weren't allowed to photograph the Sydney kitchen, but here is a picture of dnata's Singapore kitchen during a ministerial tour.

Everything in the preparation room, about the size of a small aircraft hangar, is stainless steel. Implements are not shared between stations or processes and hot food temperature is measured by a thermometer gun and meticulously recorded.

Okay, I grimaced at some of the single-use plastic still being used here, indicative of every airline currently in the skies, but also at the amount of sheer waste that occurs in airline catering.

I hasten to point out that the airlines are hamstrung in their ability to do anything but destroy uneaten meals and the associated packaging because of our strict quarantine rules. You see, ANY food - or any THING that has come in contact with food (packaging, containers, disposable cutlery etc) - is unpacked by hand from the returning trolleys inside a secure room at the catering facility. Washable items like bowls and plates are loaded into a big washer, but everything else is dumped unceremoniously into a dedicated Sulo bin for incineration, including unopened drinks, snacks and whole meals.

Business class meal being served on an MH A330 (file image MAS)

“Our hands are absolutely tied in this matter,” regional manager for Malaysia Airlines, Giles Gilbert tells me, clearly uncomfortable at the process we are all witnessing, “but the rules are very strict and there is absolutely no room to move. Everything that comes off an international flight goes in that bin and is incinerated. End of story.”

Wastage is higher from the premium cabin apparently because many passengers board with a belly full of lounge food and drink. MH’s online preordering, being introduced across the network, will hopefully minimise wastage.

MH Fish curry economy meal. (file image)

dnata is able to work with food recovery programs like OzHarvest, but this is only for food surplus that is procured locally and hasn’t travelled outside our borders.

We are seeing just a small example of this quarantine process in action and are not permitted to take any photographs within the sterile zone. I can only imagine what volumes are involved in one of the huge facilities like Qantas or beyond that, the cruise industry.

A media handout image of dnata chefs examining produce (dnata)

On a daily basis, 32,000 meals are served across the MH network, including 18,000 of the airline’s famous satay sticks, all of which are hand-cooked in a single kitchen in Kuala Lumpur.

As you would expect, meals are prepared to a budget but when I enquire, both MH and dnata are guarded on this topic. Another source indicates airlines budget for around $30-35 for a premium cabin meal and around $10 for economy, so I will assume MH is in that vicinity.

Coming soon to a MH flight near you:
Chef Nelly's beef short rib.

Prior to our kitchen tour, we meet some of dnata’s chefs including Nelly Robinson, 30, who is known locally for his restaurant nel. on Wentworth Avenue here in Sydney. We sample freshly cooked prawn sambal and beef rendang directly from the MH menu and both are superb. Chef Nelly has just completed preparations to introduce a new dish, a beef short rib in honey BBQ sauce that requires a 2-day preparation. Gilbert sighs, knowing the process that entails, but he’s committed to upping the steaks - if you’ll excuse the pun.

Gilbert also candidly acknowledges that MH had some ground to make up in airline performance, but was able to share some encouraging data that included leaps in On-Time Performace (OTP) to 89% (up from 60s just two years ago) and a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 13, up from negative numbers as recently as 2018. This puts them ahead of American (3) and United (-8), but trailing the airline industry benchmark of around 40.

Food, of course, is a big influencing factor in NPS determination, so no wonder MH and dnata are making a show of this today.

“Malaysia Airlines wants to treat passengers respectfully,” Gilbert adds, “just like Malays would treat their own guests at home and food is such an important ingredient in Malaysian hospitality.”

From my experience, MH has always been a leader in onboard service from crew attitudes through to cuisine and now I am assured this can only get better still. One thing I will always remember after today is to never be shy to ask for seconds!