Chinese airline catering¹ companies and their suppliers plan to form an Airline Catering Committee (ACC) as part of efforts to ensure food quality and diversity, amid the global financial crisis and a slew² of tainted-food scandals, a senior industry official has said.

The association, which is awaiting official approval from the government, is expected to be in place by the middle of next year, Deng Xianshan, general manager of Beijing Airport Inflight Kitchen Ltd (BAIK), said on Friday.

"The ACC would also be responsible for safeguarding the interests of airline catering companies, providing member services including information sharing and training, as well as facilitate Chinese companies' entry into the global marketplace," he said.

Above all, the sector³ requires the establishment of industry standards for companies to judge food quality, he said.

The standards may cover the whole chain of production, from temperature and safety control, to manufacturing and stock management, Deng said.

With the standards in place, the industry will also have better guidance on how to bring quality and healthy Chinese food to air travelers.

"With their delicious taste and low costs, Chinese local snacks such as bean jelly and sesame seed cakes are sure to enjoy great popularity among both Chinese and foreign travelers. The problem is developing feasible methods for the production of Chinese foods for consumption on planes, which is normally much more difficult to do than Western cuisine," he said.

The challenges have also intensified⁴ with factors such as rising competition in the industry and increasing production costs amid economic slowdown, Deng said.

Still, this might be an opportune⁵ time for the domestic airline catering industry to step up innovation and compete globally, he said.

The future would even be rosier⁶ as China's aviation industry is still set to grow.

"In China, only one in 10 persons gets the chance to take one flight each year, while in the United States, almost everyone is able to do so," Deng said.