I just saw a report on Dateline about fast food restaraunts around the U.S. It's all too true with how filthy some of them can be. There are a few places around here that I refuse to eat at 'cause of the poor cleanliness or I've gotten ill from the food. One of the Subways in town is one of them. Man, if you want slimy sandwiches and icky meat, I'll direct you to it.

They should do a report on food production and packing facilities. I used to work in a packing department for a local "hotdog" factory. They would go around and tell everyone to make sure to go by all the rules whenever they were expecting an inspector. I worked in the kitchen dept. one day. We wore all this gear to be sanitary and one of the line leaders was handling raw pork chops bare handed. I nearly lost it. It wasn't very cold in the facility either. Needless to say, I won't touch any meat products from that company anymore.

 

Someone here just wrote in to the paper about this, wondering why fast food workers aren't required to wear plastic gloves.
And a ChiChi's restaurant down near Pittsburgh is under investigation for a hepatitis A outbreak which has affected 490 people and killed 3 so far.
I read a horrid story once about meat processing plants and what happens when something goes wrong. It's called "Toxin" by Robin Cook, read it and you will think twice about ever going to a burger joint again.

 

Actually, most of the fast food restaurants by me are pretty clean. Usually you'll see someone mopping the floors or going around and cleaning the tables. Maybe I'm just lucky. Then again, the food is probably killing me.....

 

i guess the best rule to live by is just look at the people behind the counter. If there's nice looking teens back there, then you're probably ok. But if there's big fat, 30 year old men who havnt shaved this week....might want to skip out.

 

The reason they don't force the employees to wear the gloves is this. The gloves HARBOR more bacteria than the peoples hands. They do require them to was their hands at least once evey hour, that is a health department rule and means big bucks if not followed. Also report any unsanitary buisness to the health inspectors and tell them to do a surprise visit. This is how most of the bad resturaunts get shut down around here. The only "fast food" resturaunt the uses the gloves is Wendy's. I know I work there. Don't eat anywhere else. They are the only place that I know of that actually follows what the corporation AND the health department say.

 

That's interesting. I worked in a deli, and we had disposable gloves and hair nets. I don't think I ever touched the meat with my bare hands.
But washing once an hour hardly seems adequate, I know employees are supposed to wash after using the restroom and all, but if Jim Bob Taco Maker scratches a personal itch then fixes your food...eww.
I watched a "professional" catering crew recently and was disgusted by their modus operandi. They would stand outside smoking cigarettes and eating, then rush in to serve without going near a sink. Not a good impression.

 

I worked in a food booth for a college sports game to raise some money last year, and they are almost as bad as fast food joints. The popcorn is a couple of days old, and you pour it into a big warmer from clear plastic bags. All of the hot dogs are steam cooked, and then placed in a warmer for a long time, some of them sat for 2 or 3 hours. The nacho cheese comes from this big pouch, and it is poured into an old coffee can to warm up. It was pretty gross seeing some of the stuff that never got cleaned. However, I did make some good money. It ended up being about 25 dollars per game. It paid for my trip to tennessee last summer.

 

I used to work at McDonalds back home. Real clean place. The store was always kept clean. I worked in the back and we had to wash our hands every hour, after a break, coming from the bathroom, handling trash, etc. We always had to keep the prep table wiped down and clean, even more during the lunch and dinner rush.

I have seen my fair share of bad places too. Theres a Jack in the Box up the road that I won't eat at.

 

Big food chains have the most reputible records, although there is no way you can get me to goto McDonnalds.

I recently had the misfortune of eating at a very nice and what I thought to be a very high class mexican restraunt. I got food poisening there, I had never been that sick to my stomach before. Not only do they make "authentic" mexican food, they give you the whole feeling of being in Mexico I have no desire to eat Mexican food, ever again.

 

I know you you feel Acerockola77... Im the same way with Chinese food. I ate at a Panda restaurant near my house with my friend... We were both sick for over a week. I've never felt that bad in my life.
As for Sonic's.... they are VERY strict
atleast in this part of the country.
They have health inspectors in every 6 months, and are evaluated by other managers every month
You have to wash hands every 10 minutes, after touching meat, trash, or anything of that nature.
I will admit, that when I worked the grille there... I did touch the meat frozen sometimes.
But that's all I did...
I washed hands, laid the meat on the grille, and washed them again. The only time i actually touched the meat was when they were "stuck together" and had to be broken apart, but I made sure I washed before and after.
They are even strict about what spatula gets used on what..
THey have a spatula for "raw cooking meat" and then one for the cooked meat. So it doesn't get contaminated
That place was proboally the most strict place Ive ever worked at due to rules and such, but it was a great job and we made the customers happy.
Anyways, enough of my rambling... just saying that Sonics are pretty clean and that I know of restaurants that I won't even go near.

 

I like In-N-Out, becuase you got to love a place that has HUGE windows so that you can see the food being prepared. They are always cleaning in there and they are always wearing gloves.

 

Sonic is great, unfortuantly there aren't any of them in this part of the country. I miss driving up to eat my food, and I don't mean going though a drive though.

 

Don't eat chicken at the Chinese joint unless you're familiar with it. #1 source of food poisoning. Most places cook all the chicken early and leave it out all day. Very dangerous and cannot be fixed by reheating. I've learned this the hard way.

WhicheverBowers,
I would never eat tacos made by anyone named Jim Bob.
But I'm in SoCal and don't have to.

 

If you want to see some filth...try peeking in the back of some Pizza joints. Its not an Italian problem either, most of the shops are pretty clean, but there are a few that make me sick when I walk in the back door to deliver food. The smell and general filth make me want to make an anonymous report to the health dept. I am reluctant to make a report because my job and companies reputation are on the line. I regularly see mice, flies and roaches when I walk into certain stores. Many pizza joints are owned by immigrants,( arabs, russians, or whatever ) that didn't grow up in a modern city and these people are not aware of basic food safety. Look over the counter and make sure the place is neat and clean. Better yet, make sure your food is piping hot when you pick it up, and eat it quick!