A passenger traveling on an Air Canada flight this week discovered a sewing needle in the sandwich he was served en route from Victoria to Toronto. This isn’t the first time a needle has been found in a sandwich on a plane. Just two weeks earlier, the same problem was noted on four different Delta flights from Amsterdam to various U.S. destinations. The problem was first discovered July 16 on a flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis when a man felt something lodge in his mouth after biting into his turkey sandwich. Thinking it was a toothpick, he pulled it out and discovered that it was in fact a sewing needle. Two minutes later, another man on the same plane found a needle in his sandwich as well. Crew on that plane notified authorities, who warned other flights of the potential hazard in the food. After opening the sandwiches to check for needles, flight attendants en route to Seattle found a needle in another sandwich. On a flight to Atlanta, another person, reportedly the man’s son, discovered a needle in his sandwich too, as did another person on another Minneapolis-bound flight. Then on Monday, a passenger on Canada Air flight AC1192 discovered the same problem. The sandwiches on the Delta flights were supplied by Gate Gourmet caterer and prepared at a facility outside Amsterdam. While Gate Gourmet caters some of Air Canada’s food, the airline is not yet sure whether the adulterated sandwich came from that caterer. How the foreign materials got into the sandwiches remains unclear. “I don’t see needles as a strategic terrorist threat,” said Richard Bloom, director of terrorism, espionage and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, according to the Star Tribune. “It’s much more likely that it has to do with a particular individual or maybe a couple getting back at an organization that [they think] treated them badly or just someone playing a bad joke.” Meanwhile Canadian authorities maintain that “there is no current threat to public safety,” reports The Examiner. However, stricter safety measures have been put in place.
