Physiological - Other
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors
The Company's refusal to cater the aircraft with crew meals; or provide a mechanism for Pilots to easily obtain food on international 'turn' pairings is a huge safety issue. The duty days on these pairings are long to start with; and with delays; can easily result in a duty day of 12 hours or more with the pilots having no easy access to food.  This is a problem in two ways.  First; because the Company has made no easy access to food possible; Crew Members spend the time in between flights jumping through all the customs hoops; etc. to get food.  This; combined with the natural time pressure of airline ops; presents a distraction from properly preparing for the flight.  Secondly; if a Crew Member decides to not go through the hassle of the customs process; he may go hours on end without eating resulting in a situation where he is actually unfit for duty without realizing it. Low blood sugar is an insidious problem; much like fatigue.  The Company's answer to the problem is for the pilots to always pack their own food before the trip.  This is simply not possible in many cases due to the realities of airline operations.  Secondly; the Company provides no cold storage to safely store the food.  This can lead to airborne food poisoning of pilots.Company must arrange for industry standard practice of ensuring suitable; nutritious food is provisioned on the aircraft and stored safely so as to prevent food-borne illness.
Air carrier pilot stated he felt his company's refusal to board crew meals on international turn flights poses a safety risk.