May 24, 2005
The food poisoning 45 passengers suffered from after flying out of Honolulu may be linked to the carrots served on the flights.
The meal with carrots was prepared by Gate Gourmet Inc., which is based in Virginia and Switzerland and has business in 30 countries. It is an airline food supplier for many airlines including Northwest, United, Delta, Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines.
According to a state epidemiologist, the Gate Gourmet carrots served on the flights may be linked to the food poisoning outbreak. But it is not certain where the contamination occurred along the production line.

Gate Gourmet received a warning letter from FDA written on April 21 and issued on May 1 for 10 failures to comply with the FDA standards. The letter details the FDA inspectorsí observations such as live cockroaches and flies, and improper maintenance of foods and facility.
According to ABC News, Gate claimed that it followed the instruction of FDA and improved their food preparation. And as a result, it actually passed a recent FDA inspection.
A lawsuit has been filed Thursday against Gate Gourmet Inc., which included the contaminated carrots in the meal served on several flights during the period of last August 22 to 24.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claimed he came down for three days with nausea, diarrhea, cramps and fever after talking a flight from Honolulu to Minneapolis. He was later diagnosed with Shigellosis caused by Shigella bacteria.