Food Safety Humor

FSPCA - Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance

Thursday, July 27, 2017

Rogue Employee Posting Photos of Moldy Equipment Goes Viral - Gains International Media Attention

 A new reality for food operations, especially large foodservice chains - a reported issue at one store within a chain that impacts the entire corporation.  This was recently the case for Chipotle where an outbreak at one store gained international attention dropping the company's stock price.  Now a case at a McDonalds store, where a rouge employee posted pictures online of a piece of ice cream equipment that had mold. [Yeah, he could have cleaned it, but instead decided to post pictures online..nice].   Unfortunately, this has gained international attention, being reported in major news media outlets around the world.

Clearly this was not an issue you want to see, but the overall cost of an issue like this can be huge, rippling back in the food chain to the ingredient manufacturers, transporters, etc.  Maintaining a tight system across hundreds or thousands of outlets can be tough.  So it is not only important to have systems in place for running a clean operation, but having systems that encourage employees to report issues, or even handle issues.  Good hiring practices also help.

HuffPost UK LIFESTYLE
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/former-mcdonalds-employee-claims-he-unearthed-dirty-tray-within-mcflurry-machine_uk_5979a01de4b02a4ebb72f709
Former McDonald’s Employee Unearths Gross Find Hidden Within McFlurry Machine
Natasha Hinde Lifestyle writer at HuffPost UK
2/27/17

A former McDonald’s employee has shared shocking photos of a dirty tray he pulled out from a McFlurry machine while on shift.

Nick, from Louisiana, USA, said he pulled the tray - filled with gunk and grease - out of the machine, after accidentally spilling ice cream nearby.

The 18-year-old later shared photos of the contents of the tray on Twitter, explaining: “This came out of McDonald’s ice cream machine in case y’all were wondering.”
In response, a spokesperson for McDonald’s US told HuffPost UK: “This is a part of our soft serve equipment that does not come into contact with any food and is required to undergo regular and timely cleaning.”

Nick, whose tweet was shared more than 14,000 times, continued to “expose” other areas of the restaurant on Twitter, such as the greasy floors, dirty utensils and frozen food.

[This person also tweeted additional pics from the food establishment which can be seen here]

He later told BuzzFeed he was “shocked” by what he saw.

However a lot of people didn’t seem too bothered: one person told Nick it was his fault for not cleaning the machine properly in the first place, while another said you can’t tar all McDonald’s franchises with the same brush.

Nick later tweeted to say he’d lost his job. “I got fired from McDonald’s,” he wrote, before adding: “I strategically planned this because I start working at my new job Friday.”

McDonald’s operates a policy which discourages employees from sharing information online that could damage its brand. According to BuzzFeed, the policy states: “Any deviation from these commitments may be subject to disciplinary or other appropriate action, up to and including termination of employment.”

A spokesperson from McDonald’s in the US added: “We are committed to running great restaurants that provide our customers with high quality food, service and a clean environment.”

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