Airlines deliberately over-salt plane food, but for a good reason according to a flight attendant.
Keeping your salt consumption at a good level is key part of maintaining a healthy diet, as too much can increase your chances of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.
The recommended daily salt intake for adults is less than 6 grams of salt per day, which is about one level teaspoon.
If you are trying to keep to this amount, then chowing down on plane food too regularly isn't going to make it easy.
Kamila Jakubjakova, a flight attendant for over three years, has explained why airlines are so liberal with the shaker.
"Due to different air pressure and dry air inside the airplane, our sense of smell reduces roughly by 20%, and so does the sensitivity of our taste buds, making the food taste blander," she told eShores.
"Therefore, the aircraft food is often oversalted. For this reason, I prefer to bring my own snacks when I fly."
As planes rise higher and higher, the air pressure falls along with humidity.
At about 30,000 feet, humidity is less than 12%, which is drier than most deserts.
This combination of dryness and low pressure stops your taste buds from being so sensitive - by up to 30%, according to 2010 study conducted by Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics.
Scientists running the study, which was commissioned by Lufthansa, reduced air pressure and sucked moisture out of the air of a special lab, the BBC reported.
They then sat study participants down on wiggling chairs and fed them food.
What they found is that salty and sweet flavours are affected, while sour, bitter and spicy flavours are almost exactly the same.
Russ Brown, director of In-flight Dining and Retail at American Airlines, said: "Proper seasoning is key to ensure food tastes good in the air. Often, recipes are modified with additional salt or seasoning to account for the cabin dining atmosphere."
Brown said that the challenges of producing delicious food for passengers at 30,000 feet faced over challenges.
Not only are airline chefs having to create thousands of meals at once, they must be able to stay fresh for enough time that they can be loaded onto and transported on a plane.
For safety reasons nearly all airlines use convection ovens as microwaves and open flames are not allowed.
"Many times the final product is not what was originally envisioned due to things outside their control," he added.
Charles Platkin, director of the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, has spent two decades analysing airline food menus in the US.
He said it is very normal for airlines to not want to leave passengers with the impression that they serve bland food, so they fill it full of flavour enhances such as salt and sugar.
