Over two million people work in the international shipping trade, and they are often at sea for months at a time. That’s a lot of meals being made by the cook on board, and their work is crucial for keeping the crew happy. Ruth Alexander hears from seafarers about why that makes “cookie” the most important person on board a ship and why, in some cases, crew members are going hungry. A former captain of merchant vessels tells us how food is used for so-called “facilitation payments” to corrupt officials, and why crews can sometimes be powerless to stop port officials filling up suitcases with food from the ship’s stores. We also hear about international efforts to try to tackle corruption in ports and increase welfare standards for seafarers. If you would like to share your own experience, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producers: Izzy Greenfield and Hannah Bewley (Image: A container ship at sea. Credit: Getty Images)
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Imagine being away from home on board a ship, sailing round the world for nine months, seeing the same few people every day, no friends, no family, eating food cooked by the same person every morning, every lunchtime, every evening.
That's the reality for many of the people who work on cargo ships, spending three quarters of their year at sea.
To bring you your new jeans, new armchair, mobile phone, toy watch car.
This is the food chain from the BBC World Service with me, Ruth Alexander, and this week we're discovering the sometimes harsh realities of eating at sea.
There are ships out there that are not feeding their crew correctly and they're going to bed hungry.
His weight went down to about five and a half stone.
I think he was in charge of ship.
We'll hear how coming into port can make matters worse.
I was showing them our galley, our pantry, and he saw this whole block of cheese.
He asked me, is it possible to take.
And he opened his bag, is it possible to take this?