20 Wild Things Seen by Health Inspectors

‘They were refilling Heinz bottles with Hunt’s’
20 Wild Things Seen by Health Inspectors

When it comes to health-code violations, it’s wholly unsurprising to find Golden Corral on the list of offenders. Buffets are known petri dishes of viruses, given that God knows who can do God knows what while heaping piles of food onto their maybe-clean plates. But some locations are more horrendous than others, as one health inspector on Reddit found out. 

As they tell it, they squatted down to check a dishwasher, and their foot broke through the tile floor and into a sewer pipe that ran underneath, prompting cockroaches to “come boiling out of the hole.” Upon further inspection, they realized that the entire floor was rotten due to the leaky sewer pipe. When they informed the general manager of the issue, the general manager tried to fight them. Classic. 

Other Redditors have remembered the health inspections they’ll never forget, and unfortunately, the Golden Corral story is far from the worst one.

moose184 7y ago Some restaurant near me got shut down because they had freshly severed goat heads in the refrigerator. They didn't serve goat. + 5K ...
 10y ago Edited 10y ago This one bar would let out moderate (I.e. would take a while to kill you) amounts of carbon monoxide in the basement about a week before health inspections to kill/drive off the rats and other rodents. To get past the inspection of the см monitor they had a short guy hide and play a note on a recorder to simulate the beeping sound. Garbage bin was way too close to the door too. + 469 ...
Joetheweirdo 8y ago My favorite chinese restaurant got shut down. My ex-wife worked for the city and i asked her what was the deal. She said the health inspectors found sometbing leaking from the celling. They lifted the ceiling tile and shined a flash light and saw multiple eyes staring back at them. It was chickens. They were raising chickens in the celing and chicken shit was dripping in the food that I had been eating at least once a week. + 21K ...
Tony_Blundetto 10y ago At a wing shop I used to work at, there was a sink where we would drain the blood out of bags of chicken before putting them in the fryer. Well, there was a leak in the pipe that was left unfixed for months. When the next health inspector came, he walked into the (luckily unused) storage room in the basement directly below the sink to find an inch deep pool of rancid congealed chicken blood. 25 ...
smitty_39 . 5y ago A now closed restaurant I used to work at had a closet that the manager would guard anytime a health inspector came. One look in there and that place would have been closed much sooner. It was also infested with roaches. So many roaches. + 228 ...
daisyenvy 10y ago Not me, but my mother is a health inspector. She inspected a Chinese restaurant and in the kitchen there was a bucket of urine under a preparation bench. The chefs used the bucket instead of making the trip to the restroom. + 80 ...
craig5005 10y ago Past food safety inspector here. Was inspecting a pizza place. They use a proofer to prepare dough (think a big, warm, humid cabinet). I opened it up and a million flies flew at me. I closed the door and looked through the glass. Someone had left a tray of dough in the proofer for a very long time. The tray was filled with what seemed like a billion maggots. The dough had obviously been turned to liquid at this time. The manager of the store tried to tell me it was only left overnight. They will lie
ElfBingley 10y ago Pies that hadn't yet had their lids put on, open to a cockroach infested kitchen. We were getting complaints about half eaten cockroaches in pies. Extractor fans with inches of grease in them (major fire risk) Most problem relate to storage of food rather than preparation + 113 ...
Urgullibl 10y ago Not a food hygiene issue, but still way too close for comfort: The rubber hoses used in gas stoves have an expiration date printed on it so that you know when to replace them. I once saw a big commercial gas stove where they had been expired for ten years. It's a wonder nothing had blown up. + 138 ...
baggman420 10y ago minced cardboard soaked in soy sauce used to stretch dim-sum and egg roll filling. working kitchen with sewage backup covering the floor. fish fraud, i.e. skate wing passed off as scallops. + 240 ...
thatdarnnumber117 5y ago Not a health inspector, but my dad was. Не witnessed an employee of a grocery chain spray Lysol around and over the meat section in attempt to get rid of flies and the smell of rotting meat. My dad went up to the employee and identified himself as a health inspector and the employee nearly passed out. Place was closed shortly after. + 724 ...
Metal_Massacre 11y ago I work in the beer industry and some of the walk ins in bars that I have seen make me never want to drink beer again. All of the connectors and gauges will just be filled with chunky brown shit and I've seen new kegs hooked up and the first beer pour completely full of foamy, chunky, disgusting stuff. It's not going to kill you but it sure as hell won't taste good. + 150 ...
The_High_Life 11y ago Edited 11y ago Going on 10 years as an inspector. Most dangerous is usually not the most disgusting. I've seen entire walk in coolers they were using at 55-60°F and the staff didn't even notice anything wrong. I've seen piles of mice that died getting stuck in the grease behind the fryer. I've seen staff throwing raw burgers on the grill then making a salad right after. I've seen squirrels and birds roaming freely inside a bread manufacturer. The stereotypes are true, Chinese restaurant kitchens are almost always filthy. Most common critical violation: Dish machine not sanitizing
SuperDaveP270 8y ago Former Inspector here. I once discovered a rat infestation in the kitchen of a hospital. They asked me if I could prove my suspicions. I pointed out the numerous foodstuffs with 1-2 circular holes chewed in them, but they didn't seem convinced. I showed them the trail of droppings and footprints coming and going from a hole in the floor drain, but they didn't seem convinced. I showed them the three dead rats I had discovered under and around equipment. I think they began to believe me at that point. Citations included rat infestation, and absolutely deplorable
 6y ago Was a health inspector long ago. Was at a Golden Corral, going through the kitchen area. As I was squatting down to check a dish washer, my foot broke through the tile floor and into a sewer pipe that ran underneath. Cockroaches come boiling out of the hole. Turns out the entire floor was rotten from a water leak in the sewer pipe. Best/worst part? The general manager tried to fight me when I told them they had to close down until they fixed the open hole into a pipe full of cockroaches and waste. + 5.9K
TheYellowRose 6y ago I once finished up a foodborne illness investigation, not finding much that could have caused the illness, and left. I parked my car on the other side of the street in full view of the restaurant I was just at. I watched the dishwasher come out the back door, light a cigarette, smoke for a minute, then hunch over and fucking puke all over the grass. Then he took another drag and went back inside. I have mild emetophobia so I got a bit of a cold sweat, then ran across the street and basically dragged his
stoogemcduck - 6y ago They were refilling the Heinz bottles with Hunt's + 15K ...
 6y ago A tuna canning plant in Los Angeles was off of Terminal Island, the processing plant owned the entire Island a few miles off shore. Needless to say, had to take a boat to the plant to look at some machinery they needed repaired. We get to the plant and there are dozens of cats, inside the plant, outside the plant, wharehouse, etc. CATS EVERYWHERE! Nobody said anything. They were even in the office building. After a few trips, I finally asked. One guy said in a joke, It's either rats or cats. We don't have a rat
a4thpipeforsherlock 6y ago So, a friend of mine is a health inspector. She walks into a local convenience store and discovers a litter box behind the counter. Totally unacceptable. Tells the proprietor that he needs to get rid of the litter box. That's kind of a health code violation. Не replies, Well, it's for the cat. We've been having mice/rat issues. To which she's all, Ohhhhh. Cat walks up. She tells him he can't have a cat in a food establishment. Не hands the cat to his wife and she takes it out of the store to their camper trailer
maximum_muffins e 8y ago My friend was inspecting a restaurant - walked out the back to find a man stirring a huge pot of curry. With his arm. No spoon or anything, just up to his hairy elbows in curry. + 10K ...

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