Food Safety Issues at World Series Venue on Today’s Outside the Lines
Outside the Lines (Friday, 5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)
Credits (top): Kansas City (Mo.) Health Dept.; Jon Costa (2)
Five days after the World Series, Jon Costa, District Food Safety Manager for concessionaire Aramark, provided Outside the Lines with a series of photos documenting his longstanding concerns over the conditions at the two stadiums in Kansas City. Costa, responsible for food safety for Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums for Aramark, said there were food safety violations, including cockroaches in vending areas, mice feces near pizza dough and several examples of meat being held at unsafe temperatures. Paula Lavigne reports. Lavigne will also appear on today’s Outside the Lines.
“When we lose control over hygienic practices and we also combine that with poor temperature control – that could be a catastrophe. That is a recipe for food-borne illness.” — Jon Costa, hired as a District Safety Manager for Aramark in 2012
“We take immediate action in the event that anybody brings up any type of allegations. And there’s been a long history of a lot of work that’s been done with this particular individual who’s made these allegations.” — Marc Bruno, COO, Aramark Sports and Entertainment, about what action Aramark took after receiving Costa’s photos and concerns
“It was shocking actually. We never thought that, at the stadium, we should go back after the game to check on the cleanliness and to check to make sure that they discarded the food items that are still out there, so it was shocking. I was told, after the game, they just flipped the switch off and they walked out.” — Naser Jouhari, Kansas City Missouri Health Department Division Manager, on the conditions of Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums on November 3, 2014 when 37 critical violations were found
Lavigne previously reported on “What’s Lurking in your Stadium Food” in 2010.
