A months-long I-Team investigation found more than 30 instances of restaurant employees transporting meat without refrigeration from a San Antonio food distributor.

A majority of the footage was captured in August and September, as restaurant employees left Restaurant Depot in the 3300 block of Fredericksburg Rd.

Two large banners hang outside of Restaurant Depot, imploring customers to ‘Keep it Kool’.

Some of the footage appears to show delivery practices which violate city and state health codes.

The Texas Food Establishment Rules require transported meat to remain at 41 degrees or less in order to keep it out of the so-called ‘food danger zone’, a

temperature range from 41 degrees to 140 degrees that allows harmful bacteria to grow most rapidly.

Foodborne organisms, which can cause food poisoning, grow at the fastest rate between 70 degrees and 117 degrees.

“Any boxed meat or anything like that, you would want to keep in some kind of cooler, with some kind of cooling media, dry ice, wet ice or frozen ice packs,” said Stephen Barscewski, Sanitarian Services Manager for San Antonio Metropolitan Health.

Barscewski analyzed some of the footage captured by the I-Team, pointing out instances that would likely result in health inspectors issuing the restaurants citations.

August 28, the I-Team captured footage of the owner of Daddy’s Burgers and More loading raw chicken into the trunk of a car, with the help of a Restaurant Depot employee. We followed the car as it made its way to the restaurant’s Stone Oak location. From start to finish, the trip took 30 minutes. It was 98 degrees outside.

“You have risk there,” said Barscewski as he watched footage of the incident. He added that salad greens loaded with the chicken created additional concerns about cross-contamination.

“There’s a possibility of blood from the meat or blood from the chicken getting on your onions, celery, bag salad.”

Daddy’s owner Ruben Perales refused our requests for an on-camera interview for this story. Over the phone he admitted to the I-Team he failed to refrigerate the chicken when leaving Restaurant Depot. It is important to note, city health records show Daddy’s Burgers and More had perfect scores during its last three inspections, and no complaints of customers getting sick. Perales said he has now purchased thermal packaging to use when transporting chicken to his restaurant.

Restaurant inspections really are only a snapshot in time.