People visit fast food restaurants every day. They are in and out quickly. Few give any thought to how clean the restaurant is, or more importantly, what goes on in the kitchen or in the food that they can’t see. Dateline NBC, known for their TV reports on real life mysteries and investigative reporting, recently examined 10 fast food restaurants. What they uncovered is surprising, even shocking.
From incidents ranging from food contaminated with salmonella, cockroaches in sodas, dead rodents decaying in traps, to sick people preparing food and chewing gum found in sandwiches, the report was based on examining 100 of each of the ten fast food restaurants located across the country. And in this investigative report, coming in at number ten was way better than being number one when it comes to dirty restaurants.
The ratings of number 10 to number one relate to the number of critical violations the restaurants received, meaning something that happens in a restaurant that could result in the food becoming contaminated and causing customers to become ill.
Number 10 – Taco Bell had the fewest violations at 91. Violations included dirty food preparation counters and rodent droppings.
Number 9 – McDonald’s came in with 136 critical violations, among them being the absence of a trained food handler on the job.
Number 8 – KFC had 157 violations which included salmonella poisoning.
Number 7 – Subway totaled 160 violations, most of which pertained to not holding food at the proper temperature, causing bacteria to reach levels high enough to make consumers ill.
Number 6 – Jack In The Box had 164 violations with one restaurant in California experiencing several cases of customer food borne illnesses.
Number 5 – Dairy Queen had 184 critical violations including the presence of grime, debris, and a thermometer that wasn’t working properly.
Number 4 – Hardees had 206 critical violations, including the presence of insects and rodents.
Number 3 – Wendy’s also had 206 critical violations, but more of their restaurants than Hardees were found in violation. Violations included improper food holding temperatures, mice droppings on the shelves, handling food with bare hands, and one food borne illness.
Number 2 – Arby’s had 210 critical violations, including not washing hands properly and handling food with their bare hands.
And the NUMBER ONE spot goes to Burger King with a whopping 241 critical violations. Complaints included employees not properly washing their hands, food stored in the refrigerator uncovered, and ice chutes filled with grime and debris, and one employee putting ice into a cup with his bare hands.
Source: http://www.AffordableHealthInsurance.org (April, 2014)
