Tag Archives: Mallrats

Gotcha: bacterial communities on food court tables and cleaning equipment in a shopping mall

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I’m agnostically ambivalent about bacteria-are-in-the-strangest places stories (show me the bodies) but if I was a mallrat, I may care about this.

Dingsdag and Coleman report in Epidemiology and Infection that the food court at a shopping mall is a potential transfer point for pathogenic microbes, but to date, this environment has not been the subject of detailed molecular microbiological study. We used a combination of say-mallrats-brodie-stinkpalm-pretzel-demotivational-poster-1243368113culture-based and culture-independent approaches to investigate the types and numbers of bacteria present on food court tables, and on a food court cleaning cloth. Bacteria were found at 102–105 c.f.u./m2 on food court tables and 1010 c.f.u./m2 on the cleaning cloth. Tag-pyrosequencing of amplified 16S rRNA genes revealed that the dominant bacterial types on the cleaning cloth were genera known to include pathogenic species (Stenotrophomonas, Aeromonas), and that these genera were also evident at lower levels on table surfaces, suggesting possible cross-contamination. The evidence suggests a public health threat is posed by bacteria in the food court, and that this may be due to cross-contamination between cleaning equipment and table surfaces.

Twenty-six of online retailer Zappos’ employees Ill with apparent food poisoning

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I used to be a mallrat (below, not exactly as shown) and roam shopping plazas looking for stuff like music and clothes, but with no real shopping agenda. The kind of guy that would piss off Ben Affleck. Two things have changed my shopping habits – online retailers and kids. I haven’t purchased much of anything (other than groceries) an actual store for a while. For the past 3 years I’ve done all of my christmas shopping online.

Earlier this year I bought some shoes from Zappos, a cool retailer who ships stuff for free. According to WDRB, Twenty-six Zappos Kentucky warehouse employees were taken to hospital, with an illness that is being reported as food poisoning.

Bullitt County Emergency Manager Director Mike Phillips says they were complaining of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea around 1 a.m. All of the affected employees worked in one section of the facility.

The Bullitt County Health Department is investigating the possibility this is a case of food poisoning, but they have not yet confirmed that.

Officials say there is no threat to other employees, and the facility is open and running as normal.

Update: According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, one of the perks of working for Zappos is that a free lunch is provided 362 days a year to the 2,600 full-time and 2,000 part-time employees.

[Bullitt] County health director Swannie Jett said everyone who was hospitalized was later released.

Jett said the illness likely stemmed from food eaten in the cafeteria inside the company’s main distribution warehouse, one of three warehouses it occupies in Shepherdsville [KY].

The health department is looking at meals served in the lunchroom between Friday and Sunday night.
Health officials began interviewing each of the ill workers late Monday afternoon and are awaiting lab results from area hospitals to determine the cause.

The company threw away the remaining food, which came from Masterson’s Catering, Jett said.
SueannaMasterson, one of the owners of the catering business, said a total of 3,200 people — Zappos workers and Masterson’s staff — ate the same meal when caterers prepared it for various Sunday shifts.

“We feel very confident in our practices here regarding food handling,” Masterson said.

Masterson said the company hired an executive chef specifically for the new Zappos contract and workers have been “more vigilant” about food preparation because it is a new contract.

Roaches, mice, bacteria on menu at some mall food courts

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An investigation by NBC’s Today show revealed that many food courts have a disturbing pattern of health violations.

The three-month investigation went inside some of the most popular malls in the United States and uncovered critical violations that can make people sick. In one Boston mall, Today captured footage of a cockroach climbing the wall right next to the grill at a popular food-court restaurant.

Most critical violations aren’t as obvious: bare hands on food, unsafe food temperatures, raw meat sitting out for too long — and filthy kitchens.

The investigation examined hundreds of inspection reports and included visits with food safety expert Cindy Rice to food courts at the Mall of America in Minnesota, Faneuil Hall in Boston and South Street Seaport in New York City.

Rice said food courts may be riskier than an average restaurant because of their tighter workspaces and higher volumes.

Reports show that since 2009 at Boston’s Faneuil Hall, 43 percent of vendors had critical violations that can make diners sick. At the Mall of America, 68 percent had critical violations, and at the Seaport mall — a tourist hot spot — 84 percent of vendors had critical violations.

Sometimes such cross-contamination can send unwitting customers to the hospital. Stan Pawlow, 14, ate Mexican food at a mall in Illinois. Days later, he was rushed to the emergency room with E. coli poisoning. His doctors said he could have died.

Pawlow wound up being one of five customers who were likely sickened after eating meals prepared by the same food-court vendor, where workers may have accidentally mixed salsa with raw meat.
 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Waiter, there’s a roach on you: mall food courts overrun by roaches, rodents, mallrats

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Australia is an Internet backwater.

In that context, the best thing about Australia is, McDonalds.

Every café and bakery and bookstore, they’ll provide 15 minutes of wi-fi if a purchase is made. Hotels will sell it to guests at $10/hour (I’m not making this up).

Not McDonalds – free wi-fi at many of their stores.

So I’ve been hanging out at a mall in Brisbane’s CBD (central business district) for the past few days, tapping McDonalds’ free wi-fi.

I never hang out at the mall.

Food courts and restaurants in shopping malls are particularly vulnerable to roach and rodent infestations because clothing stores, electronics outlets and other mall standbys aren’t subject to health regulations or inspections, and pests often sneak into malls by hiding in shipping and packaging boxes.

Kevin Chinnia, manager of Montgomery County’s health inspectors, told the Washington Examiner,

"Malls are a wide-open space, and it’s a lot more difficult to manage than if you have a stand-alone structure that you can monitor yourself.”

Virginia and Maryland health inspectors cited roughly three-quarters of all mall food vendors for violating critical health regulations during the past year, according to an analysis of health records at 12 local malls conducted by The Washington Examiner.

The Food and Drug Administration defines critical violations as those posing an "imminent health hazard" to diners. Such violations range from improper hand washing to serving contaminated food, and, depending on the severity of the infraction, can lead to a restaurant losing its food service license.

Local health officials spotted live rodents, rodent droppings or cockroaches — dead and alive, clinging to food preparation machines and even to workers — at more than 10 percent of mall eateries.
 

Waiter, there’s a roach on you: mall food courts overrun by roaches, rodents, mallrats

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Australia is an Internet backwater.

In that context, the best thing about Australia is, McDonalds.

Every café and bakery and bookstore, they’ll provide 15 minutes of wi-fi if a purchase is made. Hotels will sell it to guests at $10/hour (I’m not making this up).

Not McDonalds – free wi-fi at many of their stores.

So I’ve been hanging out at a mall in Brisbane’s CBD (central business district) for the past few days, tapping McDonalds’ free wi-fi.

I never hang out at the mall.

Food courts and restaurants in shopping malls are particularly vulnerable to roach and rodent infestations because clothing stores, electronics outlets and other mall standbys aren’t subject to health regulations or inspections, and pests often sneak into malls by hiding in shipping and packaging boxes.

Kevin Chinnia, manager of Montgomery County’s health inspectors, told the Washington Examiner,

"Malls are a wide-open space, and it’s a lot more difficult to manage than if you have a stand-alone structure that you can monitor yourself.”

Virginia and Maryland health inspectors cited roughly three-quarters of all mall food vendors for violating critical health regulations during the past year, according to an analysis of health records at 12 local malls conducted by The Washington Examiner.

The Food and Drug Administration defines critical violations as those posing an "imminent health hazard" to diners. Such violations range from improper hand washing to serving contaminated food, and, depending on the severity of the infraction, can lead to a restaurant losing its food service license.

Local health officials spotted live rodents, rodent droppings or cockroaches — dead and alive, clinging to food preparation machines and even to workers — at more than 10 percent of mall eateries.
 

Mallrats beware: baby rodent found in food court stir-fry

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I have not seen the 1995 Kevin Smith movie Mallrats, though my cultural education has exposed me to Clerks and Monty Python. Perhaps Mallrats is next. 

Canadian mallrats dining at a Winnipeg Sizzling Wok restaurant were disgusted to find a baby rodent in their stir-fry, reports CTV Winnipeg.

The mall, [St. Vital Centre], says it contacted the Health Department, and adds the restaurant will not re-open until it is cleared by health inspectors.

Mike LeBlanc, manager of Public Health Inspection Programs, said of the incident,

"I’m shocked and dismayed. This obviously is a very disturbing finding. It does not at all meet the threshold of what we even consider acceptable food practices."

The couple that found the rodent chose not to discuss the experience with media. It has been undetermined whether the rodent (pictured right, next to the Canadian dollar, aka, Loonie) is a mouse or a rat, or whether it originated within the restaurant or from a food supplier.

The CTV news source is filled with consumer comments about the restaurant, with one comment mentioning previous rodent sightings in the mall food court. Should’ve had a camera-phone.