OREANDA-NEWS. July 05, 2012. The largest Russian and European in-flight catering company, Domodedovo Catering Service, held a grand tasting press tour “World on a plate”. During the event, representatives of media and blogs had a rare opportunity to visit shops of Domodedovo Catering Service and assess the full-scale technological changes that occurred during the years of reconstruction: since 2004, the company’s shops have tripled in the area, the production has reached 80,000 meals a day, and the quantity of modern high-tech equipment has increased up to 350 units. Guests of the Service also tasted the new spring-summer menu created with the participation of a guest chef Rainer Sigg, winner of Michelin stars.

During the tour Irina Karyakina, Managing Director of Domodedovo Catering Service, invited guests to follow all stages of production of high quality in-flight meals: from preparing the ingredients, preparation of hot and cold dishes up to the packaging and loading of meals. Guests saw up-to-date technological equipment which creates special conditions for the production and storage of products. Thus, for the preparation of hot meals the Service has purchased special ovens to make Russian dishes taste authentic. To avoid deformation and preserve natural appearance of the most delicate and fragile products, the company has installed a unique packaging equipment in modified gas environment. The technology creates optimal balanced environment which allows increasing the shelf life of products up to 7 times. Shock-freezers allow storing freshly prepared ingredients without changing the organoleptic characteristics.

“Aviation Catering is a unique type of catering in which a key factor is not only taste and design of food, but also safety”, Irina Karyakina, Managing Director of Domodedovo Catering Service, says. - For example, it is prohibited to use raw products, cream cheese and cream of animal origin.”

The most “delicious” part of the event was the tasting of the new spring-summer menu created with the participation of Maestro Rainer Sigg. A new concept gives Domodedovo Airport passengers an opportunity to feel the atmosphere of a country already on board the aircraft. This became possible due to creation of the menu based on four distinct cuisines: Russian, European, American and Oriental. Such division by type of cuisine allows to take into account the wishes and preferences of passengers, as well as to simplify the process of selection of diet components for airlines, subject to the geography of flights.

“Recent research in the field of restaurant business does not reflect the obvious culinary preferences”, Rainer Sigg, a guest chef of Domodedovo Catering Service, says. - In the world market, dishes from various countries turned out to be popular; the concept is based on the immersion of a passenger in the atmosphere of the country of destination already on board the aircraft.”

For three hours, guests tasted over 20 delicious dishes from the new menu for the first class passengers. Among them are Parma ham with fresh artichokes, tomatoes and balsamic dressing; minced lamb with onions, garlic and coriander; risotto with gorgonzola and radiccio. For dessert, Domodedovo Catering Service arranged a duel between two chefs who masterfully prepared desserts from the Russian and French cuisines. Everyone could appreciate the taste of dishes created on original recipes.

The new spring-summer menu is available on flights of more than 50 airlines which carry out flights from Domodedovo Airport. Today, Domodedovo Catering Service provides meals for more than 80% of Russian airlines which carry out flights from Domodedovo, as well as a number of major international airlines such as Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa, Vietnam Airlines, United, JAL, Etihad Airways.

Domodedovo Catering Service is the largest in Russia and one of the largest in Eastern Europe and CIS countries in-flight catering companies for passengers of all classes; its production capacity is 80,000 meals a day. It offers a wide range of hot dishes, cold appetizers, desserts, confectionary products, including both standard meals (hot, cold, canned, light meals), and special types of dietary meals (Muslim, Eastern, medical, vegetarian, children, etc.). The Service operates in accordance with the quality and food safety management system, based on principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points).

Moscow Domodedovo Airport is the largest airport in passenger traffic in Russia. In 2011, the airport served 25,701,610 people, which enabled it to become one of the largest airports in Europe according to the ACI classification. Moscow Domodedovo Airport has been chosen for flights to Moscow by members of the world's leading aviation alliances - Star Alliance, oneworld. Since 2009, Moscow Domodedovo Airport tops the list of the best airports in the Eastern Europe by quality of service, according to an annual survey by the independent research company Skytrax Research (UK).