Would you like some mold with that?

[sparechange]

Having worked in restaurants for quite some time, I've seen how food is made, how things are cleaned, how all the stuff behind the scenes work.

Made a discovery that really grossed me out.......





(That water used to be clear btw)

Our drink nozzles that haven't been cleaned in months on end have grown tons of mold everywhere on the inside!

Happy Monday!

 

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[Victor Cezar]

this is disgusting, this made me think about fast food... the case there maybe is the worst

 

[sparechange]

I've had food poisoning where I work.

One night I ate some chicken and went to sleep around 11 or 12pm with a bit of a tummy ache, woke up at 1am in the morning and puked my guts out for a good 10 hours I think, no exaggeration, I'd puke for 10 mins go back to sleep for an hour wake up again and puke for a bit go back to sleep & repeat, didn't really sleep and finished my final puke around 1pm, finally fell asleep until 7pm and was a zombie.

Imagine your worst hangover with vomiting for 10 hours, tons of fun.

Please note if you are one of those people that goes out to restaurants, keep in mind you have no idea who is touching your food or how old it is / whether its properly cooked.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I watch a lot of Bar Rescue. While most of it is staged and fake, I believe the filth is real. Moldy nozzles are a common problem.

It's disgusting and makes you think twice about eating at places that look like dives.

 

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[MidwestLandlord]

Moldy nozzles are a common problem.

It's disgusting and makes you think twice about eating at places that look like dives.

I promise this is also a problem at chains as well. Especially if they still have the old-school style soda dispensers and not the new freestyle coke machines and the like. Or full service where the soda machine is not seen or used by the public.

Most state health inspections don't check for moldy nozzles either, since it's gross but not really harmful.

The worst is anything ice related. It's the perfect temp for growing harmful bacteria (the air is above 40 degrees typically), there is moisture the bacteria needs, and employees tend to take less precautions dealing with ice than they do food.

Example: touches something with bacteria on it, uses the ice scoop without washing his hands, lays the ice scoop in the ice and contaminates it. Illegal, yes. But so very common. Good luck with a quarterly health inspection catching it either. ("Don't put the scoop in the ice! The inspector is here!" lol)

Also, since most places only have 1 ice machine, and it must be down for a significant time for proper cleaning (to defrost), the chances of it getting cleaned are around zero.

If you ever get sick at a restaurant, the chances it was from something you drank is very, very high.

 

[MTEE1985]

Ok I’ll ask the question...I’m hearing a problem here, what’s the solution? Will a restaurant pay a monthly fee to be de-molded? Will a government have to be lobbied to add a more rigorous inspection process to include testing some of these things? Antimicrobial ice scoops or new material used for the fountains?

I would certainly pay a little more or frequent a restaurant that could say they uphold a higher standard of cleaning than your average place. And don’t even get me started on the bars that use the three sink method to wash glasses and call them clean

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Ok I’ll ask the question...I’m hearing a problem here, what’s the solution?

Based on my viewings of Bar Rescue, keeping a clean kitchen seems to be a major problem.

The cook doesn't want to do it, the owner doesn't want to do it, no one wants to do it.

Perhaps a weekly cleaning service that specializes in restaurant kitchens. I got to imagine that a service like that exists, but even so, there might be some value skew there to exploit.

 

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[socaldude]

When I used to work for Fedex I would often deliver to restaurants. So I would get a sneak peak at the behind the scenes in kitchens cause I would deliver their 5 gallon chemical agents or just plain old big boxes.

I remember there was this sushi place where they literally just had dirty plates and old food laying around with flies. It was disgusting.

This makes me think that most restaurant owners just don't give a crap.

I mean I think for most people this is a laziness/stingy and attention to detail issue.

I mean, I'm pretty sure it's common sense that a soda machine needs cleaning maintenance.

 

[sparechange]

Services like that do exist although mostly the staff will just get yelled at to do the cleaning, personally Ive found it very fun to get on my knees like a slave and scrub grease off the floor. @MJ DeMarco You think driving limos in the winter is bad? HA!

Highly doubt most owners would bother to pay EXTRA money for a service that isn't ''needed''

I have a free uniform and waited 4 months to finally get a new pair of pants, been wearing ripped pants at work for quite a while now.

Have seen my managers playing around or texting on they're phone while making food at the same time, keep in mind gloves are not allowed to handle ready food as its recommended to regularly hand wash (A rule never enforced) Who knows what kind of contamination is going on, one worker had the flu and was hacking up they're lung while making salads.

Best to stay at home, make your own food.

 

[splok]

Ok I’ll ask the question...I’m hearing a problem here, what’s the solution? Will a restaurant pay a monthly fee to be de-molded?

There are so many things that can go wrong in a restaurant, the only real solution is owners that give a shit. When I worked in a restaurant many years ago, everyone had a cleaning checklist for the end of every shift. The nozzles were cleaned/soaked every night. Its only a problem because the owners let it be a problem.

But since we're looking for ideas, seems like they could be made self-cleaning by running a burst of water through the nozzle after every few usages. Also, maybe directory of restaurants by health inspector score, though not sure how pubic that info is everywhere.

 

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[sparechange]

Health checks should be random.

We ALWAYS know when the inspector is coming

 

[The Abundant Man]

Health checks should be random.

We ALWAYS know when the inspector is coming

Do your managers not have a daily cleanup task list?

 

[sparechange]

Do your managers not have a daily cleanup task list?

We clean the grill and filter our cooking oils usually everyday, never have we cleaned the soda machines though until a different manager checked it out a few days ago.

 

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[MTEE1985]

Based on my viewings of Bar Rescue, keeping a clean kitchen seems to be a major problem.

The cook doesn't want to do it, the owner doesn't want to do it, no one wants to do it.

Perhaps a weekly cleaning service that specializes in restaurant kitchens. I got to imagine that a service like that exists, but even so, there might be some value skew there to exploit.

But can I do it from a beach on my laptop?

The services definitely do exist, I believe the value skew could come through a city or county health mandate that restaurants need a “deep clean” every week or every month as opposed to the once yearly most do. If our friend Kak could lobby HHS on a federally level maybe every restaurant would then be required to, in which the market becomes massive. Alternatively instead of advertising “we clean restaurants” if the service providers website were to highlight the hundreds (if not thousands) of studies related to the germs and bacteria then it might invoke some action.

However, as has been stated, health inspections tend to be a joke, so until either that changes or the public demands knowing just how dirty or clean the place they are eating at truly is then the onus is on the penny pinching owners and we’ll all continue dining out at our own risk.

 

[MidwestLandlord]

Perhaps a weekly cleaning service that specializes in restaurant kitchens. I got to imagine that a service like that exists, but even so, there might be some value skew there to exploit.

The real problem, IMHO, is that there is no real drawbacks to running a dirty restaurant.

In 2013, the risk of foodborne illness in the USA was 2.6%, the risk of death from foodborne illness was .000004%

AND those figures include foodborne illness from sources other than restaurants. So what's the actual risk of getting sick at a food establishment? .5%? 1%?

I eat at restaurants even though I know what most of their kitchens probably look like (gross), because the risk is so low...who cares?

A restaurant owner is NOT going to pay for a cleaning service due to foodborne illness risk. He has a 97.4%+ chance no one will ever get sick.

So a cleaning service would have to offer other benefits beyond that.

The biggest one would of course be saving money. However, it's pretty cheap to pay hourly employee's for the time it takes to get it "good enough"

Unless the government becomes super draconian with health inspection laws and penalties (I hope not) OR employees become too expensive to deal with (the cleaning service would then have the same issue), then I don't see it being a viable service.

A good example to support my argument would be range hoods and grease traps. Most owners pay a professional service to clean these because the government rules and regulations are harsh enough to warrant it (or in the case of hoods, Fire Marshalls typically demand professional cleaning due to fire risk)

Yet, they don't do that with anything else in the location.

 

[sparechange]

You wont die from eating contaminated food sure, but considering I have had FOOD POISONING AT MY WORK and puked my guts out for over 10 hours straight in and out of sleep, I'm strongly suggesting people to just eat at home, cheaper, healthier and a great hobby to look into.

Vomiting from food poisoning is a million times worse than a couple extra shots of vodka that throw you overboard.

 

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[JohnD Realestate]

I’ve had food poisoning/stomach flu probably at least 30 times. I used to eat out very day. I don’t go out as often as I used to.

I haven’t had it in a while now. The first few times I had it I thought I would die, but eventually I figured out if you don’t eat or drink anything at all for many hours the sickness goes quicker. I’m sure a doc would say you must drink but I noticed I get sicker when I drink fluids. If anything small sips of water.


Once after returning from a trip to South America I contracted a very strong stomach illness and was tracked for a bit by the NYS Dept of health. They wanted to make sure I was taking meds and at the time I was working for a bar. So they wanted to know I was on meds for 7 days before returning to work.

I am sure it sounds a bit crazy but after having food poisoning I have much greater appreciation for health.