Workers at Flying Food Group have filed a new complaint with California regulators alleging they discovered maggots, cockroaches, mold and decomposing food at the airline catering facility near LAX.
UNITE HERE Local 11 filed the complaint on behalf of workers with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA), alleging that employees have been exposed to unsafe conditions—including what workers reported to be maggots, mold, and cockroaches, as well as inadequate soap and paper towels and excessive heat—inside facilities responsible for preparing thousands of airline meals.
In late June 2026, one longtime employee was allegedly ordered to open airline dish carts that had sat unopened for an extended period and discovered dishes covered in decomposing food, and what appeared to be mold, maggots, and flies, producing an overwhelming stench, but was instead instructed by a supervisor to wash them because the dishes were needed for an upcoming flight.
Susan Minato, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents the workers, said “No one should have to work around maggots, cockroaches, mold, and rotting food just to earn a paycheck, as this complaint alleges.”
“The workers who prepare meals for airline passengers deserve a workplace that meets the most basic standards of cleanliness and safety. We ask Cal/OSHA to take these issues seriously and investigate immediately,” Minato continued.
“It’s unbelievable how much mold, how disgusting they are,” said Sunan Minato, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11, adding later “It’s unbelievable that workers have to live under these conditions. It’s unsafe.”
The worker who opened the carts reported experiencing stomach pain, a headache, and a strange sensation in her nose while handling the noxious material—and was not provided a mask or respirator to protect herself.
The complaint also described dangerously high temperatures in the facility’s dish room, with a longtime employee claiming that heat and humidity regularly made the room feel like “being in a sauna,” which caused workers to experience fatigue, dehydration and headaches, and that a coworker had nearly fainted from the heat.
The union has submitted photographs, videos, and worker testimony and is calling for an expedited on-site inspection.
Flying Food Group supplies meals to more than a dozen major airlines.
The company provides in-flight meals for international airlines flying out of LAX including Lufthansa, Air France, SWISS Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, ANA, Starlux, China Southern, Qantas, Air New Zealand, and Hawaiian Airlines.
Most recently, in May 2026, Cal/OSHA issued the company six citations, including four it termed “Serious,” with two of the serious violations related to the company’s failure to ensure that cold storage rooms at two LAX facilities could be utilized safely and opened from the inside.
This pattern stretches back years at the caterer.
In August 2023, Cal/OSHA had cited the company for the same storage room entrapment hazard—as part of a six-violation citation that also included bolting an exit door shut from the outside on the day of a planned worker picket line—but the company apparently did not correct the hazard.
This led to a near tragedy during a fire in January 2026 in which two workers were found inside a cooler room whose entrance door had been chained shut from the outside.
The City has launched an investigation into the Company’s safety and labor practices.
In the viral moment that sparked renewed scrutiny, union officials and workers displayed photographs showing airline dish carts filled with decomposing food and visible infestation.
The complaint described a June 2026 incident when a worker reportedly opened airline dish carts that had been sitting for an extended period, with photos showing decomposing food filled with mold, flies and maggots.
The images and worker accounts circulated widely online, drawing attention to conditions that workers say they have been reporting for years without meaningful action.
In the wake of numerous complaints about worker safety and other abuses, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) has decided to put Flying Food Group, a major airline caterer for international flights, on probation, as the company has been embroiled in controversy for years, with five different government agencies issuing citations or complaints against it for issues ranging from paying workers less than the minimum wage to serious safety hazards.
The City of Los Angeles has already issued six determinations finding Flying Food Group or its subcontractors in violation of the airport minimum wage ordinance and is currently investigating an additional complaint, and since 2017, the company has settled two wage theft class-action lawsuits totaling more than $4.5 million.
The company also faced significant labor law violations.
Under a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board, Flying Food Group admitted that it took part in an illegal effort to oust the workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 11, with multiple members of management interrogating workers about their union sympathies and activities and assisting in an effort to remove the union through a decertification campaign.
Flying Food Group was recently given only a 6-month license extension by the City of Los Angeles which lasts until the end of 2026.