Report shows disgusting conditions at airline catering facility

A scathing federal report is showing unclean conditions at the Atlanta hub of the country's largest airline catering company.

Gate Gourmet at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport has been on Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant's radar for a long time.

Diamant's investigation into a potential security breach involving the catering carts sparked hearings in Congress and last summer he dug into reports of needles found in its sandwiches.

Now, Diamant has obtained a report from the federal government about deplorable conditions in the company's Atlanta location.

A former employee of Gate Gourmet, who asked not to be identified, said he tipped off the feds about conditions inside the company's airport operation.

"It's totally disgusting," he said. "My biggest concern was the safety of the people."

Concerns were confirmed when FDA inspectors showed up at Gate Gourmet's Hartsfield-Jackson hub last November.

Diamant obtained the report through a Freedom of Information Act request, some of the more troubling observations inspectors made involved contamination controls.

"Water was observed splashing onto the cooked pasta from the floor and the drain," the reports said.

"Employees were washing fruit without any sanitizer present in the water," and "Pigeons were observed flying over the ovens," the report went on to say.

A source shot video inside the facility showing the ovens sitting just a few feet from Dumpsters.

"I've seen birds come and eat right out of the same ovens that they put on first class food."

Inspectors also found several pieces of equipment considered "un-cleanable."

Snacks stored, "In a soiled plastic bin on a shelf in a puddle of unknown liquid."

The report said there was a "Failure to conduct cleaning and sanitizing operations for utensils."

"How long was this stuff going on?" Diamant asked the former employee.

"I've seen it the whole four years I was there," he answered.

Inspectors wrote, "An employee was observed cleaning the flat top grill with only water and orange juice. While spraying the drains out, water was observed splashing onto the flat grill after it had undergone its cleaning process."

And maybe most frightening for a facility that makes millions of passenger's meals every year, inspectors found a "failure to properly identify, hold and store toxic cleaning compounds in a manner that protects against contamination of food."

"I hope the public just gets in an uproar," the source told Diamant.

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