A new Cal/OSHA complaint against an airline catering facility near LAX raises questions about worker safety, food handling practices, and accountability in California’s aviation industry.
A new complaint filed with Cal/OSHA describes rotten food that employees say they were ordered to wash instead of throw away. For the union representing them, the June episode is just the latest chapter in a pattern that has repeated for years at Flying Food Group.
When the worker opened the food carts that had gone unchecked for some time, what she found wasn’t fit to serve anyone: spoiled dishes, covered in mold, with flies and worms. What to do seemed obvious to her. She suggested throwing them out.
According to the complaint filed with California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), a supervisor told her no — to wash them instead, because those same plates were needed for an upcoming flight. While handling what the union UNITE HERE Local 11 described as “hazardous material,” the worker reported stomach pain, headaches, and a strange sensation in her nose, without having been provided adequate protective equipment.
The incident, which occurred in June 2026 at the Flying Food Group facility next to LAX — the company that prepares meals for flights on airlines including Japan Airlines, ANA, Lufthansa, and Air France — is the most recent in a list that, according to workers themselves, can no longer be described as exceptional.
A Pattern, Not an Incident
What makes this case more troubling isn’t just what was found, but the sense among workers themselves that this kind of situation has become normalized within the company’s day-to-day operations.
The June complaint adds to a record the union has documented for years:
An FDA inspection conducted in January found dirty employee restrooms and food preparation issues inside the LAX catering facility.
Workers had previously alleged they were ordered to change expiration dates on food — not an isolated oversight, but a practice that, according to the union, “may pose potential health risks to both employees and passengers.”
In April, more than a dozen workers and advocates testified before a public “Truth Commission,” organized by community leaders at Holman United Methodist Church, offering hours of testimony about unsafe conditions, wage theft, sexual harassment, labor violations, and retaliation for speaking out.
In January 2026, a fire broke out at the facility — the second in four months. Workers later described being locked inside a refrigerator while the fire spread outside, alleging the kitchen lacks adequate fire safety equipment.
In November 2025, hundreds of workers blocked a major access road to LAX during the busy Thanksgiving travel season, demanding the city hold the company accountable as what they described as a “serial violator.”
The Record Behind That Accusation
It isn’t just union rhetoric. According to UNITE HERE Local 11, five separate government agencies have issued citations or formal complaints against Flying Food Group in recent years: six citations from the City of Los Angeles for violating the airport minimum wage ordinance, six Cal/OSHA citations for workplace safety violations, ten California Highway Patrol citations for operating heavy trucks without proper licensing, one citation from the California Labor Commissioner for violating the state’s Covid right-to-recall law, and one complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board over threats, surveillance, interrogation, and retaliation against workers.
In 2022 and 2023, the City of Los Angeles found the company in violation of its Living Wage Ordinance, forcing it to pay back wages and raise pay.
The Company’s Response
A Flying Food Group spokesperson has denied the allegations related to fire safety, stating that the company “places a strong emphasis on fire safety,” conducts regular drills, and maintains fire extinguishers and other safety equipment at all its facilities. The company has not, as of this report, publicly responded to the specific details of the June complaint regarding the food carts.
What’s at Stake
For workers, the concern extends beyond their own working conditions. As the union noted in its statement on the June discovery, the practices they describe “may pose potential health risks to both themselves and the flying public” — meaning the thousands of passengers who eat what comes out of that kitchen every day, without knowing, until now, what has been happening behind it.
Cal/OSHA currently has at least three open investigations related to the facility.
