Aviation insurer USAIG has added two General Aviation Food Safety Professionals online courses to its Performance Vector safety programs for business aviation customers. The courses—created by Jean Dible, president and founder of GA Food Safety Professionals—are among dozens of safety-enhancing programs and services from leading industry providers offered to eligible policyholders at no extra charge.

Both of the new courses are taught online, with one geared toward flight attendants and the other aimed at pilots and flight technicians. The General Aviation Food Safety Professionals Flight Attendant course is for professionals who plan and manage in-flight food service activities of a sophisticated nature that go beyond basic distribution, to include galley operations with onboard food preparation, presentation and food storage exceeding 12 hours. Meanwhile, the General Aviation Food Safety Professionals Pilot & Flight Technician course is for operators that fly without flight attendants yet still carry limited food selections on board for service to passengers and crew.

The science-based curriculum is written in general aviation terms and takes pilots or other crewmembers who handle food through the necessary safety principles. The course spans the entire process—from ordering food, to proper storage and serving practices to disposal of leftover food.

“These two courses have the ‘how to’ answers for minimizing foodborne illness from the time catered food is ordered, to when it is served aboard an aircraft,” said Dible. “The curriculum addresses dealing with caterers, as well as the security of food and how to minimize the risk of deliberate contamination of food destined for in-flight meals.”