Doctors Rate U.S. Airport's Food

December 26, 2003

Doctors Rate U.S. Airport's Food
Denver's airport ranks as having the healthiest food. Miami International 
Airport is ranked No. 5 among the nation's busiest airports.

Miami Herald, FL

DALLAS - When it comes to healthy food at Dallas/Fort Worth International 
Airport, think burgers and pizza.

At least that's the conclusion of a study released Friday by the Physicians 
Committee for Responsible Medicine, which surveyed the nation's 15 busiest 
airports.

D/FW, the third-busiest airport, has 41 restaurants that meet the guidelines 
for healthy food choices in the survey. But because the airport has 95 eateries 
in all, its percentage of healthy restaurants ranked D/FW just 13th. Denver 
International Airport ranked on top.

''I've always found it sort of tough to find what I like to eat when I'm 
traveling through Dallas,'' said Brie Turner-McGrievy of the physicians' 
committee, which is based in Washington, D.C.

The study examined menus for each airport restaurant in hopes of finding at 
least entree with low fat, high-fiber and no cholesterol. Each airport got 
measured on the percentage of restaurants that qualified.

A D/FW official said that methodology unfairly characterizes the wide selection 
of food available.

''If you look at the absolute number of restaurants, we've got the most or 
nearly the most of any airport,'' said Pat Gleason, vice president for airport 
concessions. ``I think we do have good choices and selections.''

As the airline industry has struggled with billion-dollar losses, free food has 
nearly disappeared on major carriers for coach passengers on domestic flights. 
Some airlines are trying to sell meals during flights, or they're serving only 
small snacks.

All this has offered airport concessionaries an opportunity -- and some think 
it's also put a burden on them to offer more health-conscious menus.

''I think airport food is becoming more and more of a necessity for people 
because airlines are giving up on serving passengers meals,'' said 
Turner-McGrievy. ``People are getting stuck in airports a lot longer these 
days.''

At D/FW on Friday evening, some travelers said they weren't too concerned about 
finding healthy food at the airport. Fort Worth, Texas, resident Michael 
Timmons said that like most travelers, he's in a hurry. ''A lot of times I'm in 
a rush, and I don't get a chance to eat before I get to the airport,'' he said. 
``So I try to grab something before my flight.''

Liz Parias of Las Colinas, Texas, who travels about once a month, said food 
isn't her biggest concern when flying. ''When you're hungry, you're hungry,'' 
she said. ``You're not going to please everyone.''

Frequent traveler Robert Justice said he knows he's on his own for food. About 
half his on-the-go meals are handfuls of peanuts chased with energy bars; he 
also hunts down vegetarian wrap sandwiches. In Atlanta, he seeks out a 
restaurant with spicy Indian food and stir-fry that's so good he specifically 
routes some trips to eat there.

''The best part is that I get on the plane and I unwrap my little container 
with curry and chicken and rice and maybe some stir fry, and everybody else is 
stuck with some god-awful pocket sandwich,'' said Justice, reached on his 
mobile phone. The engineering manager for Cisco Systems lives in the Dallas 
area, but spent part of 40 of the past 50 weeks traveling.

Justice said D/FW isn't one of his top picks for good eats. It's one of the 
only places where he often eats at McDonald's. But his least favorite airports, 
as far as cuisine goes, are Philadelphia and San Jose, Calif., neither of which 
were rated by the committee's study.

''They're just awful,'' he said.

The committee's study has its own critics. The Center for Consumer Freedom, a 
Washington-based group sponsored by restaurants and food companies, said the 
physicians committee was a front for animal rights advocates who don't want 
people to eat meat.

The committee's study advocated passengers choose nondairy vegetarian options, 
and its literature says it opposes unethical human experiments and promotes 
alternatives to animal research.

Some travel observers were also dubious about the study's background. ''They 
should leave our airport food alone,'' said Terry Trippler, a travel advocate 
for Cheapseats.com who works and lives in Minneapolis. He admits to being lured 
by the scent of Cinnabon buns when he travels through his home airport, 
Minneapolis-St. Paul International, which finished last out of the top 15 for 
healthy restaurants.

Airports have improved their healthy offerings in the three years the group has 
studied menus around the country, Turner-McGrievy said. With obesity concerns 
on the rise, airport food vendors are responding with more salads and 
heart-healthy fare.

''All the franchises I deal with are looking to get fat out of their menus,'' 
said Gilbert Aranza, president of Star Concessions Ltd., which operates 
restaurants in Dallas and Fort Worth. ``There's incredible sensitivity to 
tailor menus to people's eating habits.''

Aranza's approach to selling food is a modified golf cart in D/FW's Terminal C 
that sells items from the Corner Bakery food chain. ''Almost all of what we're 
selling there are salads and sandwiches,'' he said, and sales are strong.

D/FW officials don't intend to focus on attracting more health-conscious 
eateries to the airport, Gleason said. A new international terminal opens in 
2005, and it will feature some fancier restaurants because passengers have 
longer layovers.

''The only complaint I've gotten about our restaurants here in eight years was 
that a man couldn't find a place for ice cream one day,'' he said.
 
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