An Australian McDonald’s employee was caught drying a wet mop underneath the fry station’s heat lamp, sparking outrage among customers both in the store and online.
Debbie Barakat took her son to the McDonald’s in Booval, a suburb of Brisbane, on April 4. While waiting for her order, she noticed an employee holding the mop just inches away from the hot lights and fries.
“I was just standing waiting for my order when I looked over and heard a staff member say, ‘I don’t think you should be doing that as it could be a safety issue as it can catch on fire,’” Barakat told Yahoo! News Australia.
Despite the warning, the employee continued to dry the mop for about a minute while other workers carried on, grabbing fries for orders. “I was totally shocked at what I witnessed and she just laughed it off,” Barakat said.
The employee had just finished mopping the floor with the detachable microfiber mop head before drying it in front of customers. Barakat emailed the store’s manager but received only a vague response: “Be assured that we’re taking corrective action so a similar action will not reoccur.”
A McDonald’s Australia spokesperson stated it was an isolated incident. “McDonald’s takes food safety extremely seriously and follows strict cleaning, sanitization, and hygiene procedures in all restaurants,” the company said. The employee involved will keep her job, but the chain is working to better train its workers. “We have addressed this with the restaurant directly and conducted thorough re-training for all employees on McDonald’s sanitization, hygiene, and food safety procedures,” the company added.
Social media users were quick to express their disgust and humour about the incident.
“May as well just sweep the fries around on the floor for flavour,” one person commented, accompanied by a vomiting emoji. Another shared, “When I worked at McDonald’s, I was astounded by the number of violations made for safety and hygiene.” Others joked about the scene: “So that’s where the flavour comes from,” and “Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed mop.”
The incident has prompted McDonald’s to review and reinforce its food safety and hygiene practices to ensure such actions are not repeated.
