Airline stops creamer and sweeterers due to anthrax scare
As a precaution against a growing number of reports of suspected anthrax on its planes, Northwest Airlines said yesterday that it would no longer give passengers powdered coffee creamer or artificial sweeteners.
The decision came after three recent incidents in which powdery substances were found on Northwest planes, prompting calls to the authorities to test for anthrax.
"We did this to reduce the unnecessary delays and concern that false alarms relating to white powdery substances are causing our customers," said Kurt Ebenhoch, a spokesman for the airline.
In what appeared to be the most serious case, a powdery material that was found to contain a bacteria similar to anthrax was found Monday night in the cargo hold of a Northwest commuter flight from Detroit after it landed in Burlington, Vt.
Tests completed yesterday conclusively determined that the bacteria was not anthrax, health officials in Vermont said. But the earlier results had prompted health officials to recommend that more than 60 people — passengers, crew members and baggage handlers — who might have been exposed to the substance begin taking antibiotics. Officials have now advised those people to stop.
Nancy Erickson, a spokeswoman for the Vermont Department of Health, said the department did not know what the substance was because tests were conducted only for the presence of anthrax.
In another instance Monday night, passengers on a flight from New Orleans to Detroit were detained for more than an hour after the plane landed while tests were conducted on a substance inside the cabin that company officials now believe was food crumbs. The plane was held for another hour for inspection before it was returned to the airline for service.
Similar delays occurred last Saturday, when a powdery substance was found on soda cans in the galley of a plane flying to Houston from Minneapolis. After landing, passengers were detained for 90 minutes while investigators determined that the powder was a sugar substitute.
Mr. Ebenhoch said Northwest would still provide passengers sugar and salt with their meals because the crystals are more easily identifiable. He also said passengers would be allowed to bring their own sweeteners and creamers aboard.
"But we'd rather they didn't," he said. "We would discourage them to do so."
Several other airlines, including United and US Airways, have endured delays after reports of suspicious substances. But Northwest has been the only one so far to change its service as a result.