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Leaking beer and Cracker Jack mice: 5 bizarre things ESPN found in stadium food reports

Eating at a professional sports stadium is expensive for the fan and lucrative for the concession provider. It can also be a gross time for health inspectors, as ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” detailed in a report released Thursday.

What’s lurking in your stadium food?” provided some thoroughly disturbing answers. The analysis looked at 16,900 routine food-safety inspection reports throughout 2016 and 2017 from local health departments of 111 North American sports venues.

It found that 28 percent of the stadiums had high-level violations at at least half of the outlets inspected. Those violations are ones that can pose a risk for foodborne illnesses.

Teams and food distributors have issued statements, typically to local outlets reporting on their stadiums, voicing concern or disputing the report in the day that followed.

While most violations in the report were the standard fare, these five stadium food transgressions surpass the usual unwashed hands, accidental placement of raw meat, and misguided improper temperatures.

The following includes the ESPN ranking of each stadium based on the percent of high-level violations.

Coors Field had some odd findings in an ESPN stadium food report. (AP)
Coors Field had some odd findings in an ESPN stadium food report. (AP)

No. 99 | Coors Field

Home of the Colorado Rockies | 71.96 percent (high-level)

Never bury the lede, as the adage goes, and “Outside the Lines” did not disappoint. From the article by Paula Lavigne and Sandra Fish:

Most Cracker Jack boxes come with a surprise inside. At Coors Field in Denver, the molasses-flavored popcorn and peanut snacks came with a live mouse.

An inspector found it during a September 2016 follow-up visit that included six cockroaches and “small winged insects.”

Mice were the main problem on that first visit 14 days prior. Along with “thousands of accumulated mouse feces,” the inspector found more than a dozen bags of chips and chocolate chips with chew holes, a dead mouse next to the hot water heater, a live mouse inside a trap near the popcorn, and feces and nesting evidence throughout the facility.

A year later the inspector watched an employee eating straight out of the kettle corn hopper, which is OK to do at home but not when you’re responsible for feeding thousands.

The Spectrum Center is in downtown Charlotte, N.C.. (AP)
The Spectrum Center is in downtown Charlotte, N.C.. (AP)

No. 107 | Spectrum Center

Home of the Charlotte Hornets | 92 percent

It’s not really that food inspectors found something in the food. But on Dec. 20, 2016, they found something in the ceiling. According to the report, “inspectors saw beer leaking from the ceiling in the bar area of the Front Court Restaurant and Bar.”

Spectrum Center was found to be the worst of all 107 stadiums in the report. The business that handles food at the arena, Levy Restaurants, told the Charlotte Observer “any concern that was identified [in food inspections] was corrected immediately.”

Nationwide Arena is shown in Columbus, Ohio, in 2000. (AP)
Nationwide Arena is shown in Columbus, Ohio, in 2000. (AP)

No. 96 | Nationwide Arena

Home of the Columbus Blue Jackets | 65.91 percent

Inspectors found the typical stuff at Nationwide, including a notice of dirty equipment that seemed innocent enough until the end.

In April 2016 a can opener blade was found to be dirty with metal fragments building up, “posing a threat of contamination and debris in food.” There’s nothing like nachos, cheese and avoiding little shards of metal.

*Everyone goes to check their can opener*

A fan with piles of hamburgers and fries at Yankee Stadium in 2009. (Getty Images)
A fan with piles of hamburgers and fries at Yankee Stadium in 2009. (Getty Images)

No. 102 | Yankee Stadium

Home of the New York Yankees | 79.07 percent

The Yankees didn’t honor their legends well in July 2017, at least based on what was found at the Legends level by inspectors. Per the report, “filth, flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated flies” were found in food and/or non-food areas at the stadium.

Two attendees took to Twitter that same month to say they or a friend got food poisoning from the Legends Buffet seafood, confirmed by a hospital test.

Legends is the food service provider at Yankee Stadium. President of Hospitality Dan Smith said they “disagree with the ESPN report, whose methodology is unexplainable.” He also noted violations are addressed and corrected immediately.

Lucas Oil Stadium is shown in Indianapolis in 2011. (AP)
Lucas Oil Stadium is shown in Indianapolis in 2011. (AP)

No. 74 | Lucas Oil Stadium

Home of the Indianapolis Colts | 48.86 percent

Lucas Oil Stadium might have something against the University of Wisconsin band. The group was in town for the December 2016 Big 10 championship game and reportedly 19 members experienced “vomiting and diarrhea after eating boxed lunches at the stadium.”

ESPN reported that the sick students went back to Madison, Wisconsin, on a separate bus.

“It was … as you can imagine,” said Darin Olson, assistant director of bands.

More than 700 boxed lunches were served at the stadium, but the band members were the only ones to report an illness. Inspectors couldn’t get to the bottom of the problem, which for multiple people in a group usually means they contracted it from an early stop in their trip.

The worst of the rest

Most of the stadiums experienced the same issues and as ESPN reported, there are differences in health inspections throughout the states. Some reports are more detailed than others.

Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, ranked 83rd on the list. There was one interesting note regarding pizza. In August 2017, an employee spilled a personal drink on a pizza intended for customers.

The report didn’t note if this pizza was served or what kind of drink.

Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, came in around the middle of the pack at 64. In April 2017, inspectors witnessed food being prepared on top of a trash receptacle. That begs a lot of questions, not the least of which is, really?!

And at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium, which came in at 68, inspectors found “baking pans sitting on top of the pizza.” Again, what?

ESPN noted that stadium health grades are usually good because people know when the health inspectors are coming due to security issues, whereas that’s not always true at other eateries.

The investigation told us in specific gross terms what we all already know, at least subconsciously: food establishments don’t always follow every letter of the law every time. It holds true for stadiums and your favorite eatery down the road.

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