‘This is terrible’: Video of McDonald’s employee in Peoria sparks controversy

A McDonald’s was investigated by the Peoria City/County Health Department after a video circulated online of an employee taking a breathing treatment while working.

The video, posted on Facebook by Peoria resident Tia Smith on Monday, Nov. 18, shows an unnamed worker using a nebulizer in the food preparation area of McDonald’s, 627 N. Western Avenue. Smith, who had taken her children there for pancakes, picked up her phone to film the worker through the drive-thru window and can be heard expressing disbelief at what she saw.

“This is terrible,” Smith states in her video, posted at 6:05 a.m. “And I’m about to send my food back. Horrible. You guys are going to have to eat oatmeal at grandma’s. This is terrible.”

Smith told the Journal Star she asked for a refund, which the store granted.

She said she did not make any other direct contact with the woman or with management, opting to simply submit a complaint to the health department instead. There were two other employees visible in the store at the time, Smith said, and they did not comment on the situation.

Smith, who faced some backlash for posting the video, said she was concerned about the risk of spreading communicable diseases. She said store employees need to be better educated on how to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“I think that McDonald’s should be ashamed that their worker felt that she had to work before taking care of her health,” Smith said. “I think that that should be looked into more, and also keeping everyone safe.”

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McDonald’s found in violation by Peoria health department

The health department received Smith’s video and complaint Nov. 19, and an inspection was performed the same day, said Stephanie Streight, the department’s environmental health coordinator.

A copy of the inspection report obtained by the Journal Star found three violations.

• The employee did not wash their hands between using a nebulizer and preparing food items.

• The employee used an aerosolized nebulizer treatment in a food preparation area which could be toxic to other people. The area where the incident occurred had already been cleaned and sanitized before the inspection, the report stated.

• The employee risked contamination when nebulizer hoses were “moving around to different food preparation surfaces and to the floor potentially causing contamination.”

According to the report, the restaurant was aware of the situation by the time the inspector arrived.

The inspector educated the person in charge at the time on the violations and rationale of food safety practices, including how chemical medicines could be toxic or allergenic to patrons. The health department recommended creating an area away from food preparation where the employee could take breathing treatments and wash their hands before returning to work.

Prior to its Nov. 19 inspection, the establishment last underwent a routine inspection Oct. 15, according to the health department. During that inspection, two violations were found: a buildup of soil and debris in the ice machine baffle, corrected at the time of inspection by an employee, and a broken hand sink near the break room, which is required to be corrected by the next routine inspection.

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Health department guidance for administering medication

According to the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Code, all personal medications, including those that are prescribed, should be properly stored in a designated area and kept separate from surfaces that come into contact with food to avoid possible contamination.

Streight said while instances like these can happen when a staff is short, it is best to build time in to accommodate for medication administration.

“If people do those at work … we typically ask that people do that in an office or some sort of area where it’s not exposed to food or food-contact surfaces,” Streight said.

The Journal Star was unable to reach the worker in the video. A family member did not reply to requests for comment.

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This article originally appeared on Journal Star: After viral video at McDonald’s, Peoria health department finds violations

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