MCTC (Marine Catering Training Consultancy) is directing its efforts towards optimizing catering operations amid global concerns about overconsumption in the maritime industry.

“Overconsumption is a global pandemic,” Christian Ioannou, group CEO at MCTC told Cruise Industry News.

“The trend is that we want to see the tray extremely full just for the satisfaction of the need that we have enough food,” Ioannou said. “At MCTC, this is our main focus. When we say catering management, we are not referring to cutting ingredients or removing ingredients, we are referring to optimizing things. What we mean is that out of the $10 budget, the $10 should be consumed and fully utilized and nothing should be thrown away.”

Another trend MCTC is observing is the replacement of fresh meals with ready-made products.

“We want the crew to start producing things from scratch rather than purchasing everything from off the shelf, which is very unhealthy and very expensive and packed with sugar and preservatives,” Ioannou said.

“So whenever we have a new client we create a project plan to see when within the year we can start replacing some of those ready convenient foods with healthier products.”

MCTC has supplied ships in around 400 ports and has worked with around 1,000 ships globally, he said, including both cargo and cruise ships.

“it is challenging for the cook to satisfy all the different nationalities onboard from Central-Eastern Europeans to Asians, Mediterranean, Indians and Filipinos. Our onshore training courses are designed to ensure that the cooks on board remain adept with the demands of different cuisines and that all crew members can enjoy food from their homeland.”

The company also puts a focus on sustainability, and last year launched a campaign to encourage vessels to use invasive species in their recipes. Non-native organisms introduced by humans, these invasive species cause habitat degradation and biodiversity loss.

MCTC recently held a live cooking demonstration in Limassol, Cyprus, showing how to safely prepare lionfish, an invasive species fast spreading through the Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.