Top 10 Disgusting Stadium Food Vendor Health Violations
ESPN has put together a report on stadium food vendor health violations. Some of the violations are pretty damn gross. We’ve picked 10 of our “favorites.”
These violations are in no particular order. Enjoy.
Are you sure those are strawberry seeds?
Sun Life Stadium (Miami Dolphins, Florida Marlins)
Vendors with critical violations: 93%
Inspection report excerpt: In June 2009, an employee complained anonymously that small insects and other debris were blended into frozen alcoholic beverages at a stand where equipment wasn’t being cleaned. When inspectors checked, they issued a critical violation for a buildup of slime inside the frozen drinks machine.
Hey, I don’t sell that, I wasn’t finished eating it…
Ford Field (Detroit Lions)
Vendors with critical violations: 70%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors cited one location 11 times in the past six years after seeing employees who didn’t wash their hands. At another stand, they found an employee’s half-eaten hamburger in a warming unit.
This spoon is glowing…
Joe Louis Arena (Detroit Red Wings)
Vendors with critical violations: 52%
Inspection report excerpt: Poisonous or toxic materials were stored atop items used to serve customers, posing a potential risk of contamination. Inspectors also found roaches below a soda dispenser at one location.
Mom, my sundae smells funny…
Izod Center (New Jersey Nets)
Vendors with critical violations: 20%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors found a seemingly spoiled and “odorous” can of cherry ice cream topping that had been left opened and uncovered in an unrefrigerated storage cabinet.
Put the fridge on the DL.
Citi Field (New York Mets)
Vendors with critical violations: 45%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors found 20 pounds of grilled chicken registered at 70 degrees in a refrigerator, about 30 degrees warmer than allowed.
Do I really need to wash the raw chicken bowls?
RBC Center (Carolina Hurricanes)
Vendors with critical violations: 67%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors cited one vendor after watching employees handle raw, breaded chicken while loading fryers and then handling cooked food without changing gloves or washing hands. The employees placed cooked chicken back in the same container used to pre-portion raw chicken before cooking.
Sorry, we only have one spatula…
Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds)
Vendors with critical violations: 40%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors saw an employee scraping food debris from a spatula using the trash bin and then trying to continue using the same spatula without cleaning it.
Don’t step on him, he’s got season tickets…
Mellon Arena (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Vendors with critical violations: 55%
Inspection report excerpt: In one of the arena’s higher-end clubs, inspectors found a live cockroach on top of a soda dispenser holster behind the bar.
Drip, drip, drip…
PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Vendors with critical violations: 53%
Inspection report excerpt: At one location with seven critical violations, inspectors found raw chicken and beef stored above bread, and found restrooms without any hot water.
Delicious expired hotdogs!
AT&T Center (San Antonio Spurs)
Vendors with critical violations: 48%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors found 18 pounds of hot dogs that had expired more than 10 days prior.
Honestly, it was hard to constrain ourselves to just 10. Ew. We apologize if we didn’t pick your team’s stadium as one of the grossest.
Vendor inspection reports [ESPN]
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