Source of HAL food in the Med

Just curious where HAL sources it’s food for cruises in the Mediterranean?

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From the embarkation port.

From the embarkation port.

Actually, not totally. There are many rules about food quality on ships that spend a lot of time in the US. You may actually find a lot of the food comes from the US. Yes, some is sourced locally, particularly if it doesn't travel well, or has very limited shelf life, like diary products.

Just curious where HAL sources it’s food for cruises in the Mediterranean?

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Going out on a limb here....From other things I have seen, cruise lines source their products from merchants who can meet the standards required by the cruise line. There is an officer onboard who routinely inspects the foodstuffs as they are being loaded on the ship to ensure compliance.

Not sure who inspects the beer. :D

Actually, not totally. There are many rules about food quality on ships that spend a lot of time in the US. You may actually find a lot of the food comes from the US. Yes, some is sourced locally, particularly if it doesn't travel well, or has very limited shelf life, like diary products.

I've watched videos of the amounts of food taken aboard for a seven day cruise. It wouldn't be cost effective to procure that food anywhere except at embarkation. The question was about the Med which would mean vendors in the EU. I rather doubt there would be such quality issues that the cruise lines would import food supplies to Europe.

Going out on a limb here....From other things I have seen, cruise lines source their products from merchants who can meet the standards required by the cruise line. There is an officer onboard who routinely inspects the foodstuffs as they are being loaded on the ship to ensure compliance.

Not sure who inspects the beer. :D

I would suspect Executive Chef inspects food being loaded a board, perhaps with Hotel Directorand/or COM . . Beverage Manager likely inspects the cases of beer. :)

Here is an old thread, but I selected it from a couple because it specifically addresses the question:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=599840

Ships that frequent US ports must use US certified food sources when provisioning anywhere. So unless European vendors have become certified to US standards, HAL will use US sources.

There are several threads out there that discuss this...this is the most direct one I found. The long distance shipping ability of frozen foods and unripened fruits and vegetables is impressive. We have resupplied twice in Puntareanas twice on recent Canal transits...mostly fresh fruit and vegetables shipped from the US. The dock there is very small...yet the resupply went on for about 8 hours...and it was mainly fruits and vegetables.

US military has the same, or greater, resupply issues with it's world wide presence, and large ships.

Nice guesses everyone.

 

The US Public Health Service requires that any ships calling at US Ports (even once) must purchase ALL protein items from US Certified Vendors.

The only US Certified Vendors are all in the USA.

Many times those protein items are imported into the USA from different countries.

The ships cheat occasionally with fresh local fish and some dairy items, but otherwise, nearly all protein items are purchased in the USA, frozen, and shipped to wherever the vessel is parked.

 

Beverages, when available, are purchased locally if the ship is a long distance from the USA.

Milk products - if the locals pasteurize them - are sometimes purchased locally.

Fruits and vegetables - depending on how they are fertilized and sprayed - are sometimes purchased locally.

Thanks CH Purser for clarrifying for us But, I still wonder when the provisions areun loaded on doc ks in U.S. does the Exc Chef, Hotel Diretcor and/or CoM nsnpect the p;roducts as the y are unloaded from delivery vehiicles and brought onto the ship? or is inspection done once the products are in the storage spaces or galley? If some of the fruits and veggies are unsatisfactofy, are they ever refused?

Also., thanks for adding ab out the U.S. Navy Vessels having the same reprovisioning issues. Interesting.

When we were on The Eurodam last September in the Med we saw in 2 locations they were bringing food on board. In Rome and Dubrovnik.

Denise :)

Thanks so much, great post. Information I find very interesting. :)

Nice guesses everyone.

 

The US Public Health Service requires that any ships calling at US Ports (even once) must purchase ALL protein items from US Certified Vendors.

The only US Certified Vendors are all in the USA.

Many times those protein items are imported into the USA from different countries.

The ships cheat occasionally with fresh local fish and some dairy items, but otherwise, nearly all protein items are purchased in the USA, frozen, and shipped to wherever the vessel is parked.

 

Beverages, when available, are purchased locally if the ship is a long distance from the USA.

Milk products - if the locals pasteurize them - are sometimes purchased locally.

Fruits and vegetables - depending on how they are fertilized and sprayed - are sometimes purchased locally.

The OP asked about the Med.

They are not going to be in the US and many things don't survive.

I have seen many food stuffs loaded on board and in other European Ports as well as the Pacific.

The OP asked about the Med.

 

They are not going to be in the US and many things don't survive.

 

I have seen many food stuffs loaded on board and in other European Ports as well as the Pacific.

Yes, but depending on the definition of "any ships calling at US Ports (even once)", ships that sail from the US during the winter could fall under that category. That would include most ships that spend the summer in Europe.

The OP asked about the Med.

 

They are not going to be in the US and many things don't survive.

 

I have seen many food stuffs loaded on board and in other European Ports as well as the Pacific.

Ditto

The OP asked about the Med.

 

They are not going to be in the US and many things don't survive.

 

I have seen many food stuffs loaded on board and in other European Ports as well as the Pacific.

Anything frozen will certainly survive long enough for shipment from the US to European ports - and many European cities regularly receive fresh fruits and vegetables from US , and other sources. Airplanes travel fast.

Yes, but depending on the definition of "any ships calling at US Ports (even once)", ships that sail from the US during the winter could fall under that category. That would include most ships that spend the summer in Europe.

This doesnt make any sense.

Several years we did a back to backEuropean cruise that started in Civitavecchia, returned to Civitavecchia and then went on to Fort Lauderdale. We reprovisioned in Italy before setting off on our transatlantic. I watched them load from my veranda. There were trucks that appeared to be from Holland with dairy products and boxes and boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables. There seemed to be at least 20 semis unloading various products. Of course there were pallet loads of soft drinks, beer, and liquor. It appeared to me that the provisions were from the EU. The cans of Diet Coke we were drinking on the crossing were labeled as being processed in Italy. My assumption is that when the ships are in the Med, they are being provisioned from the EU.

Ships operating in Europe must keep to the EU Shipsan protocols, not USPH. They will provision from EU sources. Sometimes a line will ship from the US just for quality control across the fleet. When a ship returns to the US, it is given time to use up the foreign source food.

My experience has been that the Provision Master is the primary inspector as stores are loaded, since it is his responsibility to provide the galley with food in good condition. He may be assisted by some of the Chef Tournants.

Provision Master. I jus t learned something new. I have never met or heard of such a position on a cruise ship..... I'm so gladto have now learned there is such a position. Why is that titlle not listed on he 'who' is ab oard' list of Officers? How many stripes and where does this position fit into rankings?

HAL may call it something else, but typically a two stripe officer in charge of the guys who manage the walk in boxes, and pull the required food from the boxes and deliver it to the galley.

I once was able to take a behind the scenes tour with a HAL Hotel Director. I remember some of the comments:

All meat and fish on HAL ships ships and arrives frozen. Regardless of the port where it is loaded, beef and chicken are produced in the USA. Lamb usually is grown in New Zealand and then delivered via the USA (although some might be USA grown as well). Fish has to be from an approved vendor (so I think that means a USA company, but it doesn't need to be caught in USA waters).

From personal observation only:

Many dairy products like butter, milk, and cream can be procured locally where the ship is (although I only remember seeing European and USA sources). HAL used to purchase EU grade butter (with a higher fat content than USA butter) when in Europe and often some would be left to use on December cruises out of Florida, which I have several times enjoyed spread on bread and rolls. In more recent years, I have noticed USA sourced butter with the USA standard fat level.

Even when departing from a USA port, much of the whole fruit has stickers indicating it was grown elsewhere. This is typical for bananas, and for many fruits loaded on ships in northern hemisphere winter (since the fruit was grown in the southern hemisphere during their warmer months).

At one point HAL said all flowers used for decorating the ships arrived via The Netherlands, although that doesn't mean all were grown there.

Beverages like beer and sodas are canned in various places before being brought on board. I have been served Coca-Cola on HAL ships canned in the USA, South Africa, and Denmark as examples. The non-USA soda cans are slightly smaller (1/3 L) than the USA cans (12 oz) due to the USA customary units being different than in other nations, although some people may prefer that the non-USA sodas are often made with cane sugar instead of the corn syrup used in the USA.

Thanks for the info from experts chengkp75 and CHPURSER. I watched a German cruise program where the provision master was responsible for the incoming goods, although the head chef nosed around a little, too.

Modern_Viking, your post reminded me how good the EU grade butter tasted on HAL's rolls, really did them justice, one of the things I really missed on our last HAL cruise. Seeing the odd beverage containers is one of the joys of cruising. I remember receiving two San Miguel beers at happy hour, one bottled in Spain, one in the Philippines.

HAL may call it something else, but typically a two stripe officer in charge of the guys who manage the walk in boxes, and pull the required food from the boxes and deliver it to the galley.

Thank you, thank, you. :)

I remember we boarded a HAL ship after she had been in EU and DH was very happy to find some European beers in our mini-bar, cooler. Maybe Irish or Belgian? I don't drink beer so might have the countries wrong.

On Grand Voyages provisions are loaded onto the ship in many ports. Now, some may be flown in from the US, but I doubt that the crates and crates of fresh produce all come from the US, but I certainly could be wrong. (Even in the Pacific Northwest, except for a few months of the year, most of our produce is NOT from the US.) On ships, wherever it comes from I always see a crew person looking at and sampling the produce before being accepted or rejected.

Country of origin is quite different from where the stores may have been purchased and shipped from. As stated, many lines prefer to centralize their provisioning operations and purchase through one vendor that gives them a bulk rate, and the quality is kept identical across the fleet, and then ship those stores to wherever the ship will load them.