Top International In-flight Caterer of 2014 Named at Gala in Santiago, Chile

MONTREAL, March 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

When it comes to quality and safety, which in-flight caterers are the world's best? The 2014 awards for the world's top in-flight caterers were announced at a day-long gala celebration at the Cousiño Macul winery in Santiago, Chile on February 26^th, 2015. This year the Platinum Award for Worldwide Excellence - the ceremony's highest honour - went to LSG Sky Chefs at Munich Airport (MUC). It was the first time in 2 years that Platinum had gone to a caterer outside of Asia.

The awards were presented by a global roster of major airlines and railway operators participating in the Quality and Safety Alliance In-flight Services (QSAI), a programme developed and managed by Medina Quality. Awards are given across three geographic regions: Asia, the Americas, and Europe/Africa/Middle East. Gold, Silver and Bronze awards are named for each geographic region, making for a total of nine honorees excepting the Platinum Worldwide winner. There were over 200 catering facilities located across more than 80 countries in the running for awards.

Guests at this year's gala were invited on a tour of Santiago by motor coach followed by a vineyard visit and wine tastings at Cousiño Macul. They proceeded to the awards ceremony held on the vineyard's grounds which included cocktails, dinner and wine pairings.

The 2014 QSAI Excellence Awards winners are:   

Platinum Worldwide: LSG Sky Chefs - Munich Airport, Munich, Germany

Gold Asia: Kansai In-Flight Catering Co., Ltd. - Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan

Gold Americas: LSG Sky Chefs, Ministro Pistarini International Airport, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Gold Europe/Middle East/Africa: LSG Sky Chefs - Munich Airport, Munich, Germany

Silver Asia: Oberoi Flight Services - Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, India

Silver Americas: Goddard Catering Group - Flamingo International Airport, Bonaire, Caribbean Netherlands

Silver Europe/Middle East/Africa: Saudi Airlines Catering Company - King Fahd International Airport, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Bronze Asia: ANA Catering Service Co. Ltd. - Haneda Tokyo International Airport, Osaka, Japan

Bronze Americas: Gate Gourmet - Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida

Bronze Europe/Middle East/Africa: Servair Nigeria -- Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria

Medina Quality has been a leader in audits of in-flight caterers since 1983. The company developed the QSAI programme in collaboration with its clients. QSAI is the world's first auditing programme that allows its clients to monitor and improve in-flight food supplier compliance with internationally recognized standards while sharing program costs. QSAI is designed to ensure that in-flight caterers are rewarded for maintaining the highest standards of food safety and quality. Medina Quality offers clients a variety of programmes in addition to QSAI, including alleged food poisoning investigations, food and water microbial analysis results investigations, and alleged foreign body investigations. The company also develops management reporting tools with clients, including operations dashboards, supplier dashboards and performance snapshots.

Participants in QSAI include Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge, Air France, Air Tahiti Nui, Aeroflot Russian Airlines, All Nippon Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and Via Rail Canada.

Contact: Kate Richardson, Tel: +1-514-485-9552 ext.201 krichardson@medinaquality.com