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Food

Which Stadium Food Vendor Had Most Health Violations?


By

John Del Signore

Published Jul 26, 2010

Modified Jul 26, 2010


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By

John Del Signore

Published Jul 26, 2010

Modified Jul 26, 2010


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ESPN has collated the sanitary inspection records for food vendors across America, and the results may shock you. In our area, this includes the most recent Health Department inspection results for vendors at Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden, and Nassau Coliseum. Care to place a bet on which one was cleanest and which was grossest?

All three major stadiums in NYC were bested for cleanliness by Nassau Coliseum, which scored a perfect 0% with "no critical or major violations." So now Islanders fans only have to worry about their mental health! The worst offender by far was Madison Square Garden, where 61% of the vendors had "critical violations." At one stand, inspectors found "53 mouse excreta" (38 on top of a metal box underneath the cash registers in the front food-prep/service area and 15 on top of a carbonated-beverage dispensing unit). But at least the shitty food at Knicks' games matches the shitty playing.

Second best in NYC was Citi Field, where 45% of the vendors had critical violations. Their worst offense was for bad chicken, when inspectors found that 20 pounds of grilled chicken registered at 70 degrees in a refrigerator, about 30 degrees warmer than allowed. Yankee Stadium was scored slightly worse, with 48% of the vendors racking up critical violations. Infractions included five hot dogs registering at 91 degrees in a hot-holding unit when they were supposed to be no cooler than 140. Inspectors also made a vendor pour out a bottle of Chivas Regal whiskey containing dead fruit flies.

Tagged

food vendor

health department

inspections

stadium


John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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