Not to eat in fast food places per their workers

JlSimon22
JlSimon22 Posts: 73 Member
edited December 24 in Health and Weight Loss
I saw this today and thought I'd share:

a McDonald's employee hosted an AMA (ask me anything) session on Reddit. Well that got the Reddit community thinking and so a user posted the question:

"Fast food workers of Reddit, what is the one menu option at your employment that you would recommend people never eat? (Because of cooking safety, cleanliness, unhealthy, etc)."

So want to eat as cleanly and healthily as possibly at fast food joints? Well here are some foods to stay away from and what some fast food workers had to say about them.

Chicken Nuggets - "When I worked at McDonald's, I accidentally left a whole bag of about 100 chicken nuggets out on a counter for way too long. They melted. Into a pool of liquid. I never understood why. But they were completely indiscernible as being the nuggets i once knew."

Wendy's Chili - "The meat comes from hamburger patties that sat on the grill too long to serve to customers. They take them and put them in a bin and then throw them in the fridge. When the chili is made they take it out, boil it, chop it up and dump them in the chili."

Vegetarian Items - "I used to work at a restaurant where we deep-fried the Gardenburger patties in the same oil we deep-fried the bacon."

Grilled Chicken - "At the beginning of the day we are told to get them out of the freezer and put them into hot water where they remain ALL DAY. then at the end of the day you have to take them out and SQUEEZE the gross *kitten* chicken water out of them which by now has made the meat soggy. Then we put them in a plastic container where they await the same treatment the next day."
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Replies

  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
    :sick:

    That is all.
  • RayRay1500
    RayRay1500 Posts: 158 Member
    I am soooo glad I cook all of my meals and no more fast food!!
  • EternalJourney
    EternalJourney Posts: 138
    The nugget one isn't true.

    Interesting, none the less. I am sure there are many "weird" stories like this that are true, though.
  • creatureofthewind
    creatureofthewind Posts: 34
    Also in the wendy's chilli: the small beans and kidney beans are soaked in corn syrup in the can!
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,253 Member
    Is any one really surprised by this? Surely no one thought fast food was good food?
  • TLWallperson
    TLWallperson Posts: 125
    The nugget one isn't true.

    Interesting, none the less. I am sure there are many "weird" stories like this that are true, though.

    Just out of curiousity, not trying to start an argument, how do you know this is not true. The reason I ask is because my oldest son eats them whenever we go to Macdees. If they really are that disgusting I don't want him eating them anymore. I know that they are really unhealthy anyway, which is why we don't eat there very ofter, but if the nuggets are really that bad I would like to know.
    Thanks.
  • missshyeviolett
    missshyeviolett Posts: 310 Member
    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.
  • blleadon
    blleadon Posts: 187 Member
    I wonder if some of these are just practices at that particular restaurant.
  • Lochlyn_D
    Lochlyn_D Posts: 492 Member
    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.
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
    And this is why I am not a fan of fast food restaurants and it is nothing to do with maintaining my figure! I almost want to print this out and hand it out to anyone who ever criticises me for not wanting a Big Mac for lunch.
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
    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.

    At the Wendy's YOU worked at it didn't happen... but you can't speak for them all.
  • rassha01
    rassha01 Posts: 534 Member
    Fairly certain all of the food follies do not only happen at fast food restaurants.
  • fluffykitsune
    fluffykitsune Posts: 236 Member
    I used to work in a Deli, and all of the meat / cheese that passed their sell by dates were sliced up and put on sandwiches! :angry: It was disgusting! Our manager would change the labels on things for later dates "Oh they're still good for a week after the exp date, its ok". Yeah, but if you change the label 5 times, then its actually a /month/ past expiration date.

    We also had grilled chicken breast we sold, and if it didn't sell (7 days) then it was chopped up and put in salads for another 3 days.

    Grrr.
  • Lochlyn_D
    Lochlyn_D Posts: 492 Member
    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.

    At the Wendy's YOU worked at it didn't happen... but you can't speak for them all.

    Neither can you.
  • Sapporo
    Sapporo Posts: 693 Member
    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 my sister worked at used the old hamburgers for chili meat. Maybe cheap managers do it that way?
  • ImtheOnethatsCool
    ImtheOnethatsCool Posts: 212 Member
    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 a Wendy's as a teen, and that was EXACTLY how they did the chili. Fresh meat only went into it if they ran out of the 'cooked too long' patties.
  • Danni3ll3
    Danni3ll3 Posts: 365 Member


    Wendy's Chili - "The meat comes from hamburger patties that sat on the grill too long to serve to customers. They take them and put them in a bin and then throw them in the fridge. When the chili is made they take it out, boil it, chop it up and dump them in the chili."


    The Wendy's in my town takes the fresh burger patties, chops them up and fries the meat on the grill. The rest of the ingredients that go into it are fresh. My friend, who is a clean freak, worked for them and was totally impressed with the care and quality of the ingredients of many of the items. By the way, my friend is not some teenager, she is mature woman in her 50s.
  • lhalket
    lhalket Posts: 75 Member
    I've also heard of frozen hamburger patties being used for hockey pucks during slow times...need I say more?
  • Sapporo
    Sapporo Posts: 693 Member
    I'll still eat Wendy's chili once in awhile even though I know how they make it around here. Pour it on the baked potato, add sour cream and the hot sauce. Yum.
  • Dunkirk
    Dunkirk Posts: 465 Member
    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.
  • sherrybaby81
    sherrybaby81 Posts: 257 Member
    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
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
    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
    Cp731 Posts: 3,195 Member
    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
    foleyshirley Posts: 1,043 Member
    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
    aszwarc Posts: 200 Member
    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
    AlyssaJoJo Posts: 449 Member
    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
    LeanneGoingThin Posts: 215 Member
    Liquid nuggets? That's ridiculous, surely nobody should believe that.
  • smlamb33
    smlamb33 Posts: 342 Member
    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
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    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
    spirit05 Posts: 204 Member
    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.
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