Occasionally we’ll see reports of bugs or glass being found in an inflight meal, but this is horrible on a whole different level. It might just be enough to get me to never eat another meal on a plane (which would probably be a blessing in disguise, come and think of it).
In this post:
SunExpress crew member finds snake head in meal
This incident involves a SunExpress flight from Ankara (ESB) to Düsseldorf (DUS) on Thursday, July 21, 2022. For context, SunExpress is a Turkish-German leisure airline that’s a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa.
On this particular flight, a crew member claims that they starting eating their crew meal, and then after a few bites discovered that there was a snake head in the meal. Video of this was then shared on social media.
It’s claimed that SunExpress crews have reported consistent issues with inflight meals, including that past meals have had beetles and snails in them.
The airline provided the following statement following the incident:
“It is our top priority that the services we provide to our guests on our aircraft are of the highest quality and that both our guests and employees have a comfortable and safe flight experience. The allegations and shares in the press regarding in-flight food service are absolutely unacceptable and a detailed investigation has been initiated on the subject. Until the research process in question is concluded, all preventive measures and actions, including stopping the supply of the relevant product, have been taken immediately.”
Airline catering company defends itself
Sancak Inflight Services is the catering company that SunExpress uses in Ankara. The catering company claims that dishes are cooked at 280 degrees Celsius (~536 degrees Fahrenheit), and that this couldn’t have come from the company’s kitchen. Here’s the statement:
“SunExpress Airlines is a valuable client in our country and a popular airline in Europe, which recently decided to further expand its fleet and route network. They again announced a tender for catering services on board. We did not use any of the foreign objects that were supposedly in the food when cooking (due to the technical and thermal conditions used in the in-flight catering facilities).”
The catering company claims that the snake head must have been added to the dish after the fact.
My take on this airplane meal snake head incident
I don’t know if I can emphasize enough how scared I am of snakes, so this is pretty much my worst nightmare (I mean, short of having a live snake pop out of my inflight meal, I suppose).
I’m not exactly sure what to make of this story. Was the snake head really in the dish when the catering company prepared it, or was it added later (either prior to being brought onto the plane, or by a crew member)? A few thoughts, in no particular order:
- A snake head doesn’t seem like something you’d naturally just randomly find in a meal; it’s not like a worm or a cockroach
- This almost seems like something that someone with a vendetta would place in a meal; that could be someone in the catering facility, someone responsible for bringing catering to the plane, or a crew member
- You’d think that a crew member could get in trouble for sharing something so terrible about an airline on social media, rather than just privately reporting it to the airline, no?
I don’t know what to make of this, but now I have to get the imagine of a snake head in an inflight meal out of my mind…
Bottom line
A SunExpress crew member claims to have been served a meal with a snake head in it, which has to be the worst thing that has ever ended up in an inflight meal. The airline says it’s investigating this incident, while the catering company claims that there’s no way that this came from its kitchen, and that it had to be added later.
I’m curious to see how this plays out. I don’t want to think that a catering facility would serve something like this, but then again, I also don’t want to think that someone would add something like this after the fact.
What do you make of this incident?
Where is the rest of the snake? Is this a local favorite? Spinach ala Snake or spinach and chopped snake in mushroom sauce?
This is horrifying. It may be a sabotage and the earlier they get to the bottom of it the better.
Too bad to be true
The catering company will be responsible or the food vendors. I guess the food preparers may assume it to be a snake fish whatever, but it appears to be a snake head. Next time, order for meat not fish in the airplane. Anyway, I assume that it is a snake head. They use all kinds of meat inorder to save money. What a fuck.
It must have been added after.
Just to make a story.
Whao, how will I eat a thing now in the Delta Airline on my proposed long trip to Ameica.
Someone is trying to blackmail the catering service or airline itself. I believe not from the kitchen but it actually added to the meal on the way
I'm wondering who are the unlucky one's that ate the rest of the snake.
They should have checked to see if the snake head was fully cooked or raw then they would've solved the puzzle right there. Because if it's raw They would've known it was added.
The snake head was placed in the food after it was cooked. It is a garter snake commonly found in North to Central America in wet grassy or weedy areas. Had it been cooked with the food it would have been unrecognizable. This appears to be a case of an employee with a grudge. Any reasonable person would have notified their superiors and not posted that nonsense on social media. This is 100% Horse sxxx!
One thing for they didn't wash the veges otherwise they found bugs, insects and worst a sanke head...
That is a turtle head. Snakes don’t have eyelids(it’s eyes are obviously closed) and snakes don’t have ear flaps( the circles behind the eyes).
The head of the snake must have been added by somebody who have grudge either to the catering company or to the airline company or to the person itself. The nearest is a grudge to the person who receives the pack meal.
No chance to find such thing may be some competitors done this with the help of airline staff to remove them from contract
Whatever the reason as to how the snake's head ended up in the in-flight meal, it is unacceptable & a thorough investigation must follow! It's a matter of analysing whether the snake's head had absorbed what traces of the meal's ingredients
to show when it was there? Such a mischievous &/or lackadaisical attitude practised by all sections in preparing the food/meal is unforgiveable & this mistake/attitude is glaringly obvious! If a child or visually...
Whatever the reason as to how the snake's head ended up in the in-flight meal, it is unacceptable & a thorough investigation must follow! It's a matter of analysing whether the snake's head had absorbed what traces of the meal's ingredients
to show when it was there? Such a mischievous &/or lackadaisical attitude practised by all sections in preparing the food/meal is unforgiveable & this mistake/attitude is glaringly obvious! If a child or visually handicapped person had been given this meal, the perceived horror cannot be erased from the mind!
Instead of a snake head in my Lunch, just add a glass of good tempranillo red spanish wine. I would love it.
It is a turtle head, not a snake head.
So scary and weird things .. just wonder if the passenger so hungry not realise had eaten the snake head ♀️Or is it someone wanna sabotage the flight by doing this so that to loose more passengers on board.
It's so horrifying really,both the caterers and crews on duty that day should explain it ....not all people are Chinese to eat scrawling animals.
They just have to check if the head was cooked.. or fresh. if it was cooked with the meal, then it could have come from the kitchen.. if no, then someone is trying to be funny..
Looks more like turtle head
where is the rest of the snake. in some places, it is actually considered an aphrodisiac and a delicacy!
It's a turtle head that is always a special dish in cooking. Maybe it was sent to another customer by mistake
I don't think it's possible to add such frm kitchen
Just another incarnation of the “Snakes on a Plane” horror topic: . “ Snakes on a Plane and in your mouth”.
This begs the question of how secure the carts are when they are transported from the catering facility, onto an aircraft. It seems like, maybe anything can be placed - if a snake head made it thru.
I will make sure on my next flight that I will bring my own food. That is so gross I'm at home about to throw up looking at that
It looks more like a turtle's head than a snake's head.
If the story about the snake head found in on flight airline crew meal is true then those persons or person who did this horrible act should be punished to the fullest extent of the law with out mercy
To get to the bottom of this very serious matter, the airline, health and airport authorities must work together to get on top of the situation. They should start by checking the place where it all started, ie the facility that prepares the food. Only from there then the truth may be known. No point finger pointing in every direction when passengers' welfare and hygienic well-being are concerned.
I never eat meals on airplane ill ask for a bottle of water. Im sorry someone had that experience.
Snakes on a plane... LMFAO hahahaha.
I think that it most likely has been planted there by a disgruntled crew member. Likely the same person who discovered it.
Very easy to find out, take the snake head and run some testing. If the ingredients or spice found inside it, the snake head was part of the cooking process.
I used to manage a McDonalds. Our salad lettuce and other lettuce comes package. Our prep lady scream after opening a package of salad lettuce finding a dead mouse. We put that open lettuce and mouse in a bag and notify the company and McDonald headquarters.
You can make a surprise audit! Regardless of their BRC, HACCP and other records, they have to check physically the process. It is not 1st incident, that means something bad is happening! From Goverment Health Officials to Food QA can lied about their records, equipment and building conditions! Many don't have the proper credentials to work in the Food Industry!
Duh of course this was planted. No doubt
OMG...
I think this snake head was added knowingly . to make trouble for thee Airline .I also think the member of the crew who found it should have kept quiet and only told the top management after the return flight . This event is revolting and I would now hesitate to eat a meal on that airline.This was done purposely.
I've been living in Antalya for the last 3 years and buying spinach since then, the way the plant is harvested and sold in Turkey is by uprooting the plant and sold as a whole n the market which doesn't imply using sickles!! If the same mechanism is applicable in Ankara then it's easy to see that the plant isn't truncated, hence, it is unlikely for the snake head to have been cut and collected...
I've been living in Antalya for the last 3 years and buying spinach since then, the way the plant is harvested and sold in Turkey is by uprooting the plant and sold as a whole n the market which doesn't imply using sickles!! If the same mechanism is applicable in Ankara then it's easy to see that the plant isn't truncated, hence, it is unlikely for the snake head to have been cut and collected during the crop collection process!
Of course, there are many different ways for the snake head to sneak in while dead.
The snake head appears to be fresh. Even if it's not fresh, the relative size will not go unnoticed by people preparing the foods. This must have been done by somebody who wants to discredit the caterer, so the one who orchestrated the task can replace the present caterer. Sabotaged by somebody interested to get the catering; investigate other caterers who once showed interest in the catering services of this airline. Also investigate some current...
The snake head appears to be fresh. Even if it's not fresh, the relative size will not go unnoticed by people preparing the foods. This must have been done by somebody who wants to discredit the caterer, so the one who orchestrated the task can replace the present caterer. Sabotaged by somebody interested to get the catering; investigate other caterers who once showed interest in the catering services of this airline. Also investigate some current personnel of the caterer who infiltrated the kitchen that was sent by rival caterers.
Makes no sense at all. The airline caterers will do this, someone is up to mischief. Where is the rest of the snake. The snake head doesn't look it is cooked.
Pheew, where are snakes eaten? Probably a crew member carried a home cooked meal
This is obviously aimed to sabotage the airline, no question about that! What needs to be found out is who and why??? No airline (BTW, I am an ex-Saudia FA) or in-flight catering service would conceive then execute such action unless someone is out to bring the airlines to its knees. This is revolting!!!
But when the flight attendants served food, don't they see it and questions why snake heads are there before serve to people?
No passengers were not served here.... It was a flight attendant eating his/her meal who discovered it.
Quoting the article: "A SunExpress crew member claims to have been served a meal with a snake head in it,"
Definitely vendetta
It looks like the snake head was cooked with the same food. It's the same color as the broccoli or spinach, whatever is that green stuff!
What a horrific dining experience. Talk about snakes on a plane. Super yuck..
This is absolutely confusing but I think the catering people the have questions to answer, how can snake head fund in one meal? Someone working there he/she did it. And my question is! That snake head it was cooked or row? If it was not cooked which means someone ended in the food, is something impossible, I think is supposed be the camera there in catering? Because fight meal is very important for the travelling...
This is absolutely confusing but I think the catering people the have questions to answer, how can snake head fund in one meal? Someone working there he/she did it. And my question is! That snake head it was cooked or row? If it was not cooked which means someone ended in the food, is something impossible, I think is supposed be the camera there in catering? Because fight meal is very important for the travelling people we pay a lot of money for our tickets including the meal, I think the have to research, this is my opinion though. Is make everything one scared to eat the meals in the fight now because is now published everybody knows about it.
It could have been put in to the meal by an overzealous employee to embrass the supplying firm's reputation due to reasons only be known to herself/himself.
I used to work in fast food years ago and saw small critters in the food from before the delivery was accepted. So yes, this stuff happens. Also, the government or should I say food safety allow a certain percentage of bugs and what not to get through as there is not way to remove all bugs.
As I see this seems political with catering company, could I think another catering company is trying to ruin the previous and hence to bribe a staff to plant this ? Because there’s no way a snake can be sliced in the veges. This is planted after, I concluded by saying the catering company should investigate on the staff
That is not a snake head. Looks like a turtle head
Nearly impossible to believe either way:
1. That the Carering company would ruin its image and risk being completely out of business.
2. That a courier (transit person or company) or cree member would take such a risk.
Bottom line, inconceivable and irreconcilable with any right thinking person.
In conclusion, I'm scared stiff.
Snakes are cool, stop being a baby.
Snakehead in the food is disgusting of course though.
Not that it matters, but that is the head of a lizard.
Lizard makes way more sense then a snake,but it looks cooked to order. Lol
It didn't look cooked to me. I'm guessing it was added after the fact.
This is horrifying. Bottom line, hold all involved accountable, from catering company, to airline crew. No guess work!
Sometimes meat and potato diet is the safest, well heated.
I was at the lounge of a long standing airport hotel at FRA and took some salad. Lo and behold there was a snake (actually) a slug in the salad. I actually phoned my MD in the States and he made note of this in my chart, just in case.
My diet includes only vegetables that have been heat cooked now. I did...
Sometimes meat and potato diet is the safest, well heated.
I was at the lounge of a long standing airport hotel at FRA and took some salad. Lo and behold there was a snake (actually) a slug in the salad. I actually phoned my MD in the States and he made note of this in my chart, just in case.
My diet includes only vegetables that have been heat cooked now. I did eat lettuce while visiting Israel because their stringent Hotel Rabbi laws allow no bugs to be eaten and their lettuce are grown in sealed hothouses. I figure e-coli is not as much of a risk.
"Sancak Inflight Services is the catering company"
Should be renamed to SnakeCake catering. Kinda catchier
How is that different from any other non-VLML meal?
This is absolutely unbelievable whether the meal was added later or not is irrelevant and this Airline should be censored and meals check at all times to prevent this from happening again and an investigation needs to find out who did it obviously a person had to do this
This gave me a literal nightmare last night
I discovered a small rope in my inflight meal while flying with Qatar airways in Feb 2022, and I was told by the cabin crew that the staff will inform me the investigation result within 10days and I filed a complaint on the website. Guess what, since then, i didn’t receive any response from them, even I have been asking for the response from time to time. I guess airlines sometimes simply just doesn’t care that much.
My first reaction was what happened to the rest of the snake!
Snakes are eaten in some parts of the world, (as are eels~yuk!!) and I'm assured taste "just like chicken".
Given that airline dishes are often of indeterminate content anyway, who knows what you're really eating?
When you are asked "beef or chicken?" go for the beef, or better still, the salad platter.
Sounds like someone with an axe to grind planting things too far fetched in their food, only problem is today people are morons and will believe anything.
With a little improvisation we can change the song sung by the once famous singer Rosemary Clooney from "If I knew you were coming I'd baked a cake" to "I'd a baked a snake " which apparently someone here did lol.
@Lucky..how can you live in FL and not routinely run into snakes (unless you're in a high-rise condo) and be pretty much used to them by now...like alligators?
This is possibly the most awesome travel related news I have read in ages. Pure gold.
Some welcome protein. The only problem is, it’s random, it’s not Lufthansa worthy yet.
I'm surprised this wasn't American.
Might have been more flavorful than the awful Polaris meal I just finished an hour ago. At least the snake gave it some character.
Chicken, beef or snake?
Snakes on a MF-ing plane!
Are you afraid of trouser snakes, Lucky?
What is a trouser Snake? Is it dangerous? Is it life threatening? Is it like a python? I have never heard of this type of snake. Where does it inhabit? Can someone please tell me more about what a trouser snake is I am familiar with pythons garden snakes etc etc but not trouser snakes thank you
Hmmm.You seem either very endearingly innocent or indulging in a bit of mischief, lol. But hey for your benefit, I'm assuming the former. Here goes.Trouser snake....just think about its natural habitat a bit more and then you'll be clued in. Remember, the pen is mightier than a pork sword. Or perhaps, quit while you're a head
A trouser snake has one eye and are one of the contributing causes of 'climate change emergency'.
Snake head is a delicacy, like fish eggs
Some ppl. are such a sissy! In some parts of the world ppl. are dying because they do not have food. Be priviledge, you get extra protein.
Really looks like the way its plated was deliberately put in by someone as a prank.
What do people dying in some parts of the world have to do with a contaminated airline meal?
Awesome. Make sure Sandy gets snake heads served on their flight meals. Come on, folks. It's gross, and we can acknowledge that without resorting to lame shame attempts.
Get these motherf**king snakes off this motherf**king plane!
Lol!!!
I once found a small snake in my cherry cobbler. Come to find out, it was a pie-thon.
Has anyone reached out to Samuel L. Jackson for comment?
Wow we get Snakes on the Plane movie sequel already?
Well, I think this one is easy - the snake was in the field where the spinach was growing, and where the spinach got mechanically whacked, including the snake.
Or the snake got picked up intact in the spinach (it does not appear to be especially big), gof refrigerated and died or incapacitated, as cold blooded animals do in the fridge do, and got sliced and diced with the spinach. In a world with industrial food delivery but natural sources, these things happen.
i agree with you. I think it was caught among the greens.
Poor snake just slithering along in a spinach patch and got whacked.
Looks like the vegetarian meal wasn't strictly vegetarian.
I am terrified of snakes, and routinely have run-ins with Copperheads and Timber Rattlesnakes, here in northern Georgia.
Nature, and airplane food, is scary.
Seeing that the meal is a spinach (or some green leaves) of sorts, it is plausible that the snake was in the green leaves before they were cooked and was hacked in the process. For the large amounts of food the catering company makes i'd think that the veg is cut by a machine and not by hand. Where's the rest of the snake?
I have 2 long haul flights this coming week and i...
Seeing that the meal is a spinach (or some green leaves) of sorts, it is plausible that the snake was in the green leaves before they were cooked and was hacked in the process. For the large amounts of food the catering company makes i'd think that the veg is cut by a machine and not by hand. Where's the rest of the snake?
I have 2 long haul flights this coming week and i know i won't touch any leafy veg placed infront of me and i'll probably only eat if i'm really really hungry. Horrible.
That might imply that the rest of the snake is in other meals.
This is a plausible situation. Examine those salads carefully.
Especially the tuna salad!
In 2022, photos or did not happen.