I travel an awful lot, domestically and internationally, both suing companies who poison their customers and speaking of food safety, so I suppose Alison Young’s article should not have come as much of a surprise that “[a]irport restaurants … have been cited in the past year for hundreds of food safety violations, local health department reports show.” According to her analysis “[o]n the most recent inspections available online, 42% of 57 restaurants reviewed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had at least one “critical” violation.” And, that is my hometown airport. Here are some highlights of Alison’s data analysis:
* Grab-and-go coolers often don’t keep sandwiches and salads cold enough to stop dangerous pathogens, reports show.
• Cold food above 41 degrees. At Detroit’s airport, chicken in salads was 60 degrees in a cooler Dec. 4 at the Fuddruckers near Gate C25. Fuddruckers in airports differ from its typical restaurants because they sell so much food from grab-and-go coolers, said spokeswoman Kelly Pascal Gould. The company is auditing airport franchise coolers.
• Cross-contamination. A worker handled raw chicken, then bread without changing gloves Aug. 27 at Cibo Bistro & Wine Bar at Reagan National Airport. “I’m sure it was an isolated incident,” said Chris Treloar at Cibo’s management firm.
• Vermin. Inspectors found rat droppings or rodent issues at least 12 times from October 2008 through March at Atlanta’s airport. At JFK International Airport in New York City, at least 11 citations were issued for mice from October 2008 through August.
I’m staying home for Christmas.