Dairy Queen is the king of food safety violations, according to nationwide health inspection reports. Hygiene issues comprise almost 25% of DQ’s violations; busy employees apparently can’t be bothered to wash their hands or store food at the proper temperature.

Near Denver, for example, an inspector watched an employee “wipe nose, take money,” and continue to prepare food without washing.

Other frequent employee problems included:

Employees wiping dirty hands on their pants, then continuing to serve food.
• Employees handling foods such as burgers and bananas with their bare hands.
• Employees eating and drinking around food, which spreads germs.

At a Phoenix Dairy Queen, an inspector watched a drive-thru employee handling customers’ food with an “open wound,” obviously, a dangerous problem that can spread germs.

In Orlando, the five Dairy Queens have averaged a whopping 13 critical violations.

One location, on Curry Ford road was cited for 29 violations. They included:

• Dead roaches on a table where food is prepared
• Live roaches around the restaurant
• Food prep table not cleaned after being in contact with raw food

Combining low wages with poor training results in an abysmal food safety record? How shocking.

Dairy Queen — A Chain With Lots of Dangerous Violations [HealthInspections.com via BarfBlog]
(Photo: lovely lemur)

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