We all know that airline food can be pretty awful. From overcooked rubbery eggs to dry chicken and suspicious looking sauces, plane food isn’t known for its quality.

It could be down to the fact that meals are part-cooked before take off, refrigerated and then nuked in the microwave mid-flight.

Or it could be because of the aircraft’s environment, where the humidity is at levels below most deserts and affecting the way we taste the food. Even the background noise on planes will not help your taste buds, as white noise makes food taste worse.

With most meals being made up to 72 hours ahead of eating, the food on-board is not expected to be of the highest standards. With millions of flights taking off around the world each day, it would be hard to put together a list of the worst examples served on planes – and it would be a shame to miss out.

But luckily for us, passengers have been sharing snaps of some of the food they have come across on their travels, meaning we can share their pain. And this gallery of food documents precisely why airline meals get such a bad rap.

From a phallic looking ‘object’ in a white tray to some green mush in sauce, some of the in-flight food served to travellers looks awful. Other photos just highlight the depressing nature of the food, with stodgy, beige breakfasts mingling neatly with dry and tired-looking sandwiches.

And who ever thought a fry-up could look ‘sweaty’, as one picture shows condensation clinging to the inside of a polystyrene tray serving up a sorry looking breakfast.

While one toastie served to a passenger looks more like a bland, cardboard version of food than the real deal.

Unfortunately, it’s a far cry from the ‘golden age’ of air travel, when passengers were offered up some incredible looking food.

From 1960 until 1974, airline passengers were served all manner of delicious looking meals, including lobster, cold meats and there were even dessert trolleys.