Maggots Gone From Coffee Maker, McDonald's Owner Says
BATH TWP. — If you happen to be eating breakfast right now, go read the comics, or the sports page, or the obituaries. Come back here when you’re done …
OK. Ready?
In an e-mail sent to the State Journal on Saturday, an employee of the McDonald’s restaurant on Marsh Road, wrote:
“Over the past couple of days something has developed that has me more than a little concerned.
“Our specialty coffee machine (which makes the hot mochas, lattes and cappuccinos) has been working on and off for they past couple of weeks and started to smell of something I can only describe as ungodly.”
The employee learned last week that coffee maker’s sporadic performance was due to the fact that maggots were growing in the mechanism of the coffee maker.
“As you would expect the machine was shut down right away and cleaned,” he wrote.
The e-mail went on to explain that even after the cleaning, maggots continued to grow inside the coffee machine.
The employee wrote: “The regional manager was contacted and her response was the machine must be kept on and we must continue to sell our specialty coffees.”
'Immediate Action'
Responding to the State Journal’s inquiry (and the full context of the employee’s e-mail) the Grand Rapids public relations firm that represents McDonald’s — Seyferth PR — e-mailed me this written statement attributed to franchise owner Bob “Dutch” Van Poppelen:
“Rest assured, absolutely nothing is more important to me than operating safe, clean restaurants. I take matters concerning the safety and quality of the food and beverages I serve extremely seriously.
“Upon learning about these allegations, we took immediate action to investigate the claims. It’s important to note that at no time did the area of the machine in question come in contact with the beverages.
“This was an isolated issue and corrective action has been taken to address this matter. We removed the machine from service so it could be sanitized and repaired. The machine has since been returned to service and no further issues have been reported.”
No Confidence
The statement did not address the allegation regarding the regional manager’s involvement. Meanwhile, the employee expressed, in his e-mail, a lack of confidence in McDonald’s management’s handling of the situation:
“It has been made clear to me that this is going to go unchecked and this situation will get worse. I feel this business should be held accountable … as they are doing next to nothing to correct the problem.”
In a subsequent telephone conversation, the employee did not dispute the owner’s contention that the problem was fixed now. However, he said there was a 24-hour period when he felt pressured to continue serving speciality coffee against his better judgment.
Schneider: Maggots gone from coffee maker, McDonald's owner says | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal
