Not to eat in fast food places per their workers

sherrybaby81

The nugget one and grilled chicken one are definitely not true. I worked at a McD's for 3 years and trust me, I have seen raw nuggets left out and they do NOT melt. The battered stuff on the outside goes mushy, and that is about it.

The grilled chicken is kept frozen until it is put on the grill. It takes I think it was 7 minutes to cook, being turned halfway through.

This was in Canada.

Koldnomore

The Wendy's Chili is not made like that (at least it's not supposed to be). I worked at Wendy's as a teenager for a while and the meat for the chili comes in a separate bag, pre seasoned and pre cooked. Just add water.

And if that fact is untrue, I can only assume that the rest are also probably untrue as well.

The Wendy's I worked at as a teenager DID. They just added the extra meat to the bagged stuff. To this day I still tell my friends NOT to eat the chili there.

Cp731

So, I started a new job the other day.
Which I quit the next day.
My boss told me to RE-FRY chicken that I dropped on the floor.
No I did not.
So SHE did it and served it to our guest any way.

This is at a reputable fine dining restaurant. Not Fast Food. So, It happens every where.

foleyshirley

The Wendy's Chili is not made like that (at least it's not supposed to be). I worked at Wendy's as a teenager for a while and the meat for the chili comes in a separate bag, pre seasoned and pre cooked. Just add water.

And if that fact is untrue, I can only assume that the rest are also probably untrue as well.

I worked at Wendy's in 1983 or 1984, and we did put patties from the grill in a bin for the chilli. I never made the chilli, so I don't know about the rest, but the meat did not come in a separate bag back then.

aszwarc

I worked at a Hardee's many years ago (long before the buyout/merger with Carl's Jr.). Sausage patties were cooked in batches on the grill and then put into a warming pan. We'd try to cook just what we'd need for that day's breakfast. But if there were leftovers, they were packaged and put into the fridge for the next day's sausage gravy (which was made from a powder mixed with boiling water).

The breakfast shift also cooked all of the bacon for the whole day's meals, and put it into a tray. So unless it was all used through the day, if you ordered something with bacon in the evening (the place closed at 10pm), you got bacon that had been sitting in a warming pan for at least 12 hours.

AlyssaJoJo

Not that I'm promoting McD's but I know for a fact that their grilled chicken isn't made that way since I worked there all through out highschool. At least where I was. It was made on the grill with a steaming affect - then would be placed in a tray that had hot water underneath it. Set a timer, and if it wasn't ate by the time that timer went down it was tossed.

I can honestly say - that the building I worked at if something was old and past it's time limit it was because of employee's and not the managers. Bunch of teenagers at night? Yeah we let stuff sit longer than it should have.

LeanneGoingThin

Liquid nuggets? That's ridiculous, surely nobody should believe that.

smlamb33

My daughter is a chef in a non fast food restaurant. She usually works when sick due to staffing issues. In my opinion, eating out is taking a gamble that everyone who has handled your food has practised safe food handling and is well.

This is so true! My daughter has worked for Little Caesar's Pizza and currently works for a coffee place (not going to mention which one since she currently works there) and they make their workers work even if they have to run to the bathroom from being sick! Up until recently they even had to have a dr.'s excuse for missing 1 day! So who can afford to go to the doctor when they have the stomach bug? So no excuse means they have to work their shift. This is true at LC and her current job. Not to mention that my daughter has caught other employees using a spoon to stir up people's coffee refills and then use it to stir a freshly ordered drink! EWWW! I only try to go there when she works so that I know my coffee is safe, since she is a bit of a germaphob like me!

jonnythan

In all seriousness, I'm much more concerned about the practices of small local places than places with high levels of standardization like large fast food chains.

spirit05

I used to work at KFC, and I remember having to strip off all the chicken off the leftovers and saving it for the pot pies. So, gross old soggy chicken that's been in the warmer for hours and then manually stripped off by uncaring dirty teenagers that just want to go home and thrown into a bag into the deep freeze for up to 6 months.

Mmmmmmm.

I don't know what KFC you worked at but per corporate guidelines that is absolutely untrue, not to mention it violates OSHA.
I used to manage a KFC so I know this for a fact. End of rant.

andyisandy

Meh ill still eat fast food

winkerbean

I used to work at KFC, and I remember having to strip off all the chicken off the leftovers and saving it for the pot pies. So, gross old soggy chicken that's been in the warmer for hours and then manually stripped off by uncaring dirty teenagers that just want to go home and thrown into a bag into the deep freeze for up to 6 months.

Mmmmmmm.

Yep - when I worked at KFC as a teenager we had to do the same thing.

Meg_Shirley_86

My insight as a former chef:

The thing about nuggets seems sketchy, but not entirely unbelievable.
The thing about chili seems extremely probable, as most dishes like soups, chili's, and whatever the "Daily Special" is at any restaurant is usually made with leftover meats. That's why they are always drowned in a sauce, they've already been cooked to hell.
Someone said the workers come in sick. They absolutely do. If you don't, and I never would, you pay for it. Your bosses plan a skeleton crew or less, and your coworkers have that much more work to do.

Restaurants are businesses. It's just good to be as informed as possible if you are concerned by these things.

SanteMulberry

Many years ago, when I was a young student, I worked at a KFC (for a week before I quit). There were lots of things that grossed me out but the grossest was some chicken that was starting to smell very bad (like rotten bad) and the manager told us to put it in a vat and pour salt on it and then pour boiling water over it to rinse it and then prepare it as usual for the fryer. :sick: In all the years since, I have never once been tempted to go to a KFC.

sunshinestater

I worked at Burget Kimg back in the mid 1980s and never saw anything gross with the food prep, although we ate and drank while working, which I think is a health code violation. There was a rule against it, but the managers looked the other way because there was never enough time for breaks. The only skevvy things were that the iced tea container faucet would develop a snotlike substance if it wasn't cleaned frequently and the roaches had a home in the bottom of the shake machine, despite regular exterminator visits. Every once in a while one would get into the shake mix.

winkerbean

I used to work at KFC, and I remember having to strip off all the chicken off the leftovers and saving it for the pot pies. So, gross old soggy chicken that's been in the warmer for hours and then manually stripped off by uncaring dirty teenagers that just want to go home and thrown into a bag into the deep freeze for up to 6 months.

Mmmmmmm.

I don't know what KFC you worked at but per corporate guidelines that is absolutely untrue, not to mention it violates OSHA.
I used to manage a KFC so I know this for a fact. End of rant.

I worked at a KFC in the late 90s and I was told to "debone" the left over chicken for the pot pies. It's true.

Athena53

This is so true! My daughter has worked for Little Caesar's Pizza and currently works for a coffee place (not going to mention which one since she currently works there) and they make their workers work even if they have to run to the bathroom from being sick! Up until recently they even had to have a dr.'s excuse for missing 1 day! So who can afford to go to the doctor when they have the stomach bug? So no excuse means they have to work their shift. This is true at LC and her current job.

This is my biggest concern. You don't work, you don't get paid, and they're hard on you if you are sick enough that you're willing to give up a day's pay.

I'm not as concerned about the other practices if there's an effective local Food Inspector. I read the reports in our paper and they're dinging restaurants for stuff we do at home without thinking (storing raw meat too close to fresh veggies, not labeling leftovers as to what they are and when they were made). They're very strict about the temperatures for storing meat, so letting raw chicken sit in water all day would probably be a violation.

Franchises are usually VERY inflexible about how things are made; it's important to them that the chili you get at Wendy's in Cleveland tastes just like the chili you order in LA. I can't see a lot of room for variation, with some stores throwing in frozen leftover patties and some using fresh. One of the reasons I avoid the higher-end franchises (Olive Garden, Chili's, etc.) is that I suspect most of the food is shipped to the restaurant in dehydrated, powdered or frozen form with a minimal amount of work to do to get a portion on the plate. You never see a special on, say, grilled asparagus because they got a good price on it that morning at the local farmer's market. Everything is bought from the parent company. That's a lot of processing and preservatives.

mfleeg

I worked at a golden corral. Honestly, it was a buffet, but they were really good about throwing things out and keeping things clean at location.... we had to take temperatures of all foods and they had to be thrown out if they were in the temperature where bacteria could grow.

My old roommate worked at Wendy's and I have heard the thing about leftover burgers at the end of the night becomes chili. That one doesn't bother me too much.

FlaxMilk

For the people mentioning the grilled chicken, I don't think that's necessarily McDonald's grilled chicken. I worked for another chain, and that's pretty much how the chicken was kept. Floating in a pan of water all day. I can't remember what we did with it at the end of the day, but we weren't supposed to have massive quantities out, so I think we threw away whatever was left over. I don't remember having to squeeze it. It grossed me out, but not for sanitary reasons, it just looked really gross, slabs of pale white meat floating in water. :sick:

NicoleLFifield

Funny but gross......I worked fast food years ago and if something was dropped on the floor, it was fried and served anyway because the attitude was that if anything had gotten on the food, the hot grease would kill it right?...........Gross things happen to food everywhere, even during production so if we are afraid to eat things because of the stories we hear then we would not eat anything at all unless we grow it ourself........