This study was conducted in order to:
1. examine the microbiological quality of hot meals served on aircraft with regard to indicator bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens , and to evaluate the results according to the microbiological criteria set by the AEA (I).
2. examine the microbiological quality of cold meals served on aircraft with regard to indicator bacteria and Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens , and to evaluate the results according to the microbiological criteria set by the AEA (II).
3. examine the occurrence of Salmonella in meals served on aircraft (I-III).
4. investigate a Salmonella outbreak among airline and railway passengers and to evaluate the contributing factors leading to the outbreak (IV).
5. monitor the carriage of Staphylococcus aureus among flight catering employees, and to characterise the isolated strains by determining enterotoxicity and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) types (V).