Tag Archives: Mcdonalds

Ontario man finds ants in his McDonald’s burritos?

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The Toronto Sun reports that 28-year-old Tommy Lam and his girlfriend stopped by the McDonald’s at Markham Rd. and Denison St., north of Toronto, around 11 a.m. last week to order four pita-wrapped sausage and egg burritos to eat on their way to work.

Soon after, they sat down to eat at his business, Jewellery Box, just around the corner at Steeles Ave. E. and Middlefield Rd., Lam claims they spotted dozens of ants inside and outside their burritos.

Fortunately, the little critters weren’t crawling around. But that was of little consolation to Lam, who had already eaten the first of his two burritos.

Whether or not that first sandwich was also laced with dead ants, Lam is not sure.

When Lam returned to the store, Lam said the McDonald’s manager, “didn’t even offer an apology. … He offered to replace our burritos, that was it. I just said, ‘No thanks!’ and walked out.”

Lam said he later tried to contact McDonald’s head offices and his local public health department, but he wasn’t able to reach anyone over the long weekend.

How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat? School lessons in food safety

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Today’s USA Today asked a bunch of food safety types what the government could do to improve the school lunch program.

My full answer included,

“Does it have to be government? They’re not very good at this stuff.”

 What got published this a.m., along with a photo by Dave Adams of Kansas State, was,

"Government should set minimal standards and demand continuous improvement from all of its suppliers. More importantly, every cafeteria needs to make microbial food safety — from hand washing to food handling — part of the daily culture." 

Douglas Powell, professor of food safety at Kansas State University and the publisher of barfblog.com.

The story explains that in 1982, hamburgers from McDonald’s fast-food chain sickened at least 47 people in Oregon and Michigan. No one died, but the pathogen that caused the severe cramps, abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea turned out to be a little-known, especially dangerous form of the common stomach bacteria E. coli. The new subtype, E. coli O157:H7, produced a toxin that destroyed red blood cells and, in later cases elsewhere, caused kidney failure or death.

Confounded by the discovery, McDonald’s hired one of the nation’s best-known food safety scientists, Michael Doyle, and told him, he recalls, "to bulletproof their system so E. coli never happened to them again."

McDonald’s reconsidered its old assumptions about food — from how often beef-processing plants should test ground beef to how well a hamburger must be cooked to kill off pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella.

The results helped change the industry. For years, the federal food code said burgers had to be cooked only until their internal temperature reached 140 degrees; McDonald’s tests showed the safe standard was 155 degrees and that the meat must register that temperature for at least 15 seconds.

Microbial data also altered the demands McDonald’s imposed on its suppliers.

After a couple of years, the company saw that "about 5% of the suppliers could not get down to what we considered a reasonable level for salmonella and E. coli," says Doyle, now director of the University of Georgia’s Center for Food Safety. "McDonald’s worked hard with them, but they couldn’t get there, so McDonald’s let them go."

The lesson, many analysts say, is that organizations with great buying power — such as fast-food chains or the school lunch program — can set higher standards, and industry ultimately will meet those standards because that’s where the money is. The school lunch program purchases huge volumes of commodities such as beef, poultry and other staples –– $830 million worth in 2008.
 

Report: Illinois hepatitis A outbreak would have been prevented with proper handwashing (and vaccination)

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The Illinois Health Department has concluded its investigation into this summer’s hepatitis A outbreak and found that most of the cases originated at the Milan McDonald’s and most of the cases “would have been prevented” if only that one employee had properly washed hands.

The findings of the investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health concludes "the index case was a food handler at the McDonalds in Milan, Illinois and had onset of illness June 11." Investigators also found "other possible sources in the community were ruled out."

And, "The source of the outbreak for the majority of outbreak cases was food eaten at the McDonalds, Milan, Illinois where a food handler worked while infectious and handled foods that were not later cooked."

The state investigation goes on to say that "if the first employee with hepatitis A had used proper hand-washing technique while working the transmission of hepatitis A through food would not have occurred."
 

Warning: This sandwich may contain a gold earring

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A Chicago man is suing McDonald’s for injuries he sustained when he swallowed a gold earring that was in his sandwich.

The complaint asserts, among other things, that the sandwich "lacked any warning of the fact that it contained the gold earring" and that McDonald’s "failed to prevent foreign objects not fit for human consumption, including but not limited to earrings, from being offered to the general public in the food being served."
 

McDonald’s fillet-o-fish is really fish

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Putting aside years of conspiracy theories, the Miami Herald commissioned Nova Southeastern professor Mahmood Shivji’s to use DNA fingerprinting technology to confirm that the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich is actually made of fish.

Alaska pollock.

McDonald’s corporate website identifies pollock as one of two fish sources for its decades-old fish sandwich (the other being hoki, a fish found off the coasts of New Zealand and Australia).

Both fish species are recognized as sustainable, well-managed fisheries — meaning Filet-O-Fish lovers can feel good that their guilty pleasure won’t harm Mother Nature’s marine ecosytems.
 

Not-so-Happy Meals in Illinois

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While Brad and Angelina were treating their kiddies to some McDonald’s Happy Meals this weekend (see right), the Rock Island County Health department revealed repeat violations for the Milan, Illinois McDonald’s linked to a Hepatitis A outbreak, reports WQAD Online.

Rock Island County Health inspectors typically go to restaurants like a McDonalds once or twice a year. That’s all that is required by law. But the Milan McDonald’s because of violations last year was told in February they would be visited as many as four times this year.

The Milan McDonald’s was shut down last Wednesday after the Rock Island County Health department realized an employee was working while sick with Hepatitis A and exposing customers to the disease. (Possibly 10,000 people were exposed.) When a violation occurs it’s the inspectors job to find out why.

Paul Guse the Direcor of Environmental Health said there had been violations in the past, and a letter sent to the establishment in February, saying,

"We have identified your establishment as being below desired compliance levels and posing an increased risk for a foodborne illness outbreak."

Did the health department see this outbreak coming?

Guse says, "No."

Mcdonald’s owner Kevin Murphy says he did not know of the outbreak until Monday the 13th and was not told the names of the infected employees until Wednesday, July 15th after his restaurant was closed.

Restaurant inspections aren’t predictive of foodborne illness outbreaks, but they can provide information on an establishment and management’s culture of food safety.

Hepatitis A debacle in Illinois

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Who knew what, when? A common theme in foodborne illness outbreak management is how was the essential information managed and responded to (whether it was knowledge of a contaminated product, linked illnesses or reporting an infected food handler). As more information trickles out about a food handler-linked Hepatitis A outbreak in Milan, Illinois it gets more confusing as to when the operator knew about the illness. Today a customer came forward and claims overhearing the discussion:

The woman says she was waiting in line to order at the McDonalds in Milan on June 25th, when she heard employee Cheryl Schram approach a manager behind the counter.
”She came out and she said Michelle, I was diagnosed with Hepatitis A”, said the woman who doesn’t want her name used. ”I was in there and I heard her say that”.
The customer says she knows what she heard that day. ”I swear on my mothers grave”.

This week’s food safety infosheet is all about the Hep A outbreak. Download it here.

Health dept: We balance public’s need to know with needs of business; 20 sick with Hepatitis A in Illinois

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KWQC is reporting that two workers at the Milan, Illinois, McDonald’s tested positive for Hepatitis A but TV6 has learned one of those tests came back a month ago.

Even though the first case was confirmed back in mid-June, the Rock Island County Health Department didn’t close the McDonald’s until this past Wednesday. By then, another case had been confirmed.

The health department now says it didn’t respond back then because it didn’t know back then. The health department says it didn’t find out about the case on June 9th until July 10th, a month later.

By law, the health department should have been notified within 24 hours. At a press conference Saturday afternoon, health department staff said the system broke down.

Wendy Trute with the Health Department said,

"There’s a network of providers and there’s a whole list of people responsible for reporting infectious diseases or communicable diseases."

The Health Department also says in addition to the two confirmed cases at the Milan McDonalds, there are also confirmed hepatitis A cases involving other local businesses.

We then asked which businesses, Trute said,

"You know what? It’s not our policy to name them, nor is it the policy of the state health department. However, I can assure you we have worked with them and they have taken all the necessary pre-cautions required of them."

As far as communicating details to the public, the Health Department says it tries to balance the public’s need to know with the needs of any business that may be involved.

There are 20 confirmed Hepatitis A case in Rock Island and surrounding areas, with 11 people being hospitalized.
 

Customer, parent outraged over Hepatitis A linked to Illinois McDonald’s

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There are 19 confirmed cases of Hepatitis A in Illinois, primarily in Rock Island County, and they appear to be linked to a McDonald’s restaurant in Milan, Illinois that was closed Wednesday evening.

The mother of a McDonalds employee who did not wish to be identified, said her daughter worked from 11-5 on Wednesday and she then accompanied her to the Rock Island County Health Department where employees were being screened for Hepatitis A.

The mother said,

"I’m very angry. They put my daughter in jeopardy along with the public and other people."

Arnie Hanson, his wife and daughter were among the last to be served food on Wednesday evening. A manager had to unlock a door so they could leave.

"You should be able to trust who’s preparing your food. It’s very disappointing. … We’re upset about it because not only me and my wife ate there. We also had our 11-year-old daughter. Now you’re dealing with kids. It’s just not right."

Oregon. man upset by McDonald’s order repeatedly calls 911

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Oregon appears to be an emerging state for 911 wackos – rivaling Florida and Texas – after a 23-year-old called 911 Friday to complain about his order at a McDonald’s in Clackamas, Ore.

Last month, a fellow Oregonian was arrested after calling 911 to complain about a juice box missing from his McDonald’s order. From insufficient shrimp in Texas, a McNuggets emergency and missing lemonade at a Burger King, 2009 is turning into a watershed year as American fast-food diners to a 911-mediated slide into idiocracy.

In the latest incident,  KOMO News reports that  a man said he had paid $10 in the drive-thru but only received a single burger and a fry before he was told to pull around.

"Sir, this is not a police matter," the dispatcher told him. "You need to take it up with the manager of the McDonald’s."

The man thought it would be wise to call 911 again.

"This is a 911 emergency. I got robbed for eight dollars."

"Sir, 911 is life-and-death only. If you do continue calling 911 you will be arrested for misuse."

"Well, arrest me at (expletive) 82nd and Sunnyside Road. Please send a cop right now. I swear to God all my life…"

The man was arrested and spent the night in jail.

On Saturday, the man told KATU he stood by his actions.

"I was very upset that they tried to charge me for food I had already paid for. … For me to end up going to jail over a $10 order, that’s just ridiculous.”