There are some pretty gnarly photos out of the Delta Sky Club terminal F in Atlanta.
This looks like the underside cavity of a BUNN-style insulated thermal server, with the base removed. It’s suggested in social media that this is buildup and passengers drinking coffee filtered through this, but I wonder if this is actually the factory insulation foam that sits between the outer shell and the actual liquid liner, not what’s inside the coffee compartment.
I started researching and found that BUNN sells these servers as foam‑insulated. And the foam is not a food-contact surface. Coffee sits in a separate liner, filled from the top, while this seems to be photos of the bottom.
If that’s what’s happening here, then we’re not seeing chemical foam melted into the coffee and served to Sky Club members. And the health risk – while not ‘good’ – seems pretty low.
Now, if the inner liner or seals failed, hot coffee could enter the cavity and contact foam. That’s not great.
- potential foreign-material contamination (crumbs and flakes)
- potential chemical tainting (it’s not designed for beverage contact)
The allegation seems to be that someone actually sprayed expanding foam in as a repair. That’s not something you’d want to do in food service. Exposed foam is porous and not cleanable. If the base is missing or the unit is in a state where insulation is exposed, that seems like a grime and potential pest-harboring surface.
Regardless, the surfaces in these photos look soiled, which may be non-food-contact but still shouldn’t look like that in equipment in active service.
I’m going to guess that there’s low direct ingestion risk, since it’s just insulation, but that there’s a sanitizaton and maintenance flag here. So it’s concerning that this was in service.
While this club’s health department history isn’t as bad as some, I don’t think it looks great, etiher. Georgia’s Department of Public Health considers 69 or below a failing score. And I’m see inspection histories like at Atlanta Sky Clubs as low as 52.
I’ve written about health inspection at the O’Hare Sky Club, the Philadelphia Admirals Club and Charlotte Centurion lounge. I also won’t make coffee in my room because I know what those machines look like. At best, they get wiped down… on the outside.
Get ready for the ‘SkyClub’ is a separate entity from Delta Air Lines… as is ‘Endeavor’ whenever anything goes wrong with it… please ignore the ‘Delta’ logos and consider them totally different. Also, other lounges have issues, too, so, yeah… @Tim Dunn, am I doing this right?
And where are the Atlanta-haters at? Assemble!!! Tell us how you refuse to call it ‘Jackson’ for the hundredth time and how that it about race. And what, pray tell, do you call LAS… mhm…
For a magical Christmas or New Year’s experience, choose Delta.
@L737 — It’s a Chrismahanukwanzakah miracle, courtesy of @Matt!
1990
I have never advocated hiding behind a subsidiary or contractor’s identify whether it involve wheelchair pushes, upside down RJs, or club providers.
The issue here is really that we have no idea what we are really looking at – Gary acknowledges that in its articles.
Without even knowing what the photo is of, there is no way to know if what we are looking at is counter to code or just gross.
for the record, I usually do not drink much if any coffee after noon so the chances that I will drink from this or any coffeepot in a Delta lounge is smaller than that I will drink from their sparkling water dispensers or the bar itself.
absent more information, I’m not sure we really have much of a story
That’s kinda gross but I always use the Starbucks machines to make an Americano. Maybe that’s just as bad? Who knows.
I still call LAS McCarran, but that is due to old age rather than any political idology…
The commercial coffee dispenser should have the National Sanitation Foundation certification Mark. The NSF certification mark represents that the product or operation has been certified by one of the most esteemed independent certification organizations. It is valued by consumers, manufacturers, retailers, and regulatory agencies worldwide. Using a chemical foam to seal a leak in this coffee dispenser at the Delta Air Lines Sky Club raises sanitation concerns. Report misuse of the NSF certification mark directly to NSF on their website at https://www.nsf.org/contact-us
@Tim Dunn — Ok, less ‘you,’ and maybe not even Delta; just more what shady businesses tend to do. That said, the ‘we have no idea what we are really looking at’ was about the response to @J.A.R.’s nightshade incident from earlier this year (you thought I forgot about that one?) @Gary Leff, did he ever get a response?
Stick to points and benefits, Leff, and let me, a food safety professional of more than 35 years and a food safety auditor the last ten years, handle subjects like this.
@1990 — A holiday themed @Matt post! Niiiiice.
Regardless of what is or isn’t going on here, every now and then I’m reminded there is indeed upside to not being a coffee drinker.
Hopefully whatever is used for the beef and pork arrabbiata in the ATL SkyClubs are clean because I quite enjoyed those and would very much plan on having more on any subsequent visits