Seafarers have always rated food as one of their most important factors when assessing life onboard, and yet a survey by the Union has found that food is often not up to standard and is getting worse.
The Nautilus International’s survey found that nearly a quarter of all respondents believed the food they received onboard was either poor or very poor and nearly half considered it had become worse in recent years. More than 60% said they had no choice in the food they are served, making it impossible for them to choose a healthier lifestyle.
The majority of respondents worked as part of a crew of between 11 and 30 people and 80% of them sailed with more than three nationalities onboard. Many felt that while seafarers come from many different backgrounds they are often all fed the same food. This often impacted on their wellbeing as well as their health, with some stating that never seeing food from home made the feelings of homesickness and loneliness worse.
Along with dietary needs and desires, little consideration appears to be made to the shift patterns that seafarers work at sea. Only 3% of respondents were able to eat when they wanted, whilst nearly a quarter miss meals because of their shifts and a remarkable 90% have had to rush their meals in order to get back to work.
Nearly all respondents had a dedicated or trained cook onboard their vessel and in nearly half of all cases this was the person responsible for purchasing the food. However, there were questions over the training of these cooks and potential issues where the cook wasn’t doing the ordering.
When asked for general comments about how to improve the quality of food onboard, the survey results highlighted four main areas:
- better trained/qualified chefs
- better quality ingredients/more spend per head
- more variety (especially with regards to healthier options)
- reducing the amount of fatty or fried food
Nautilus is producing a report on the results, which it will be raising with shipowners, medical experts and other seafarer welfare agencies.
To read the full feature report, see the February online edition of the Telegraph (p20).
Source: Nautilus International
