Is Chicago Ballpark Food Safe?
You get your hot dog or chicken nuggets at the ballpark. Do you ever wonder how safe the food is?
A recent national study found that Chicago does well in these health inspections. But 2 Investigator Pam Zekman discovered that unlike in other cities, inspectors aren't at the stadiums when they are most needed.
Millions of people go to Chicago sports stadiums for more than just the game. They also go for the grub.
"I'm planning on having chicken fingers and fries," Beverly Parks said on the way into a Cubs game. "It's just a great deal here at Wrigley field."
The city's health department is supposed to make sure the food is safe to eat. But is it?
CBS 2 obtained two years of annual inspection reports for the stadiums. Chicago's routine inspections only take place when nothing is going on at the arenas.
"Well they are wasting their time," said Pete Snyder, a food safety expert. "Unless they go there when the food has been prepared and served, they don't know if the food is safe or not."
The 2 Investigators went undercover to Wrigley Field and two other stadiums while events were going on.
At U.S. Cellular Field, an undercover camera caught a worker eating and then serving food. At Wrigley Field, a worker coughed in her hand, then prepared food. Also, some workers were not wearing caps or hair nets. And condiments were displayed without sneeze guards.
"The purpose of the sneeze guard is to prevent the bacteria in the mouth from getting onto the food," Snyder said.
And is the hot food kept at the required 140 degrees? A hamburger CBS 2 ordered at the United Center, and chicken nuggets at Wrigley Field were barely warm.
"Now we have the chance of the spores germinating and growing out in that product and people getting diarrhea," Snyder said.
At Wrigley Field, three people complained they got sick after eating hot dogs and brats. Inspections were done days later with no game scheduled. In one case, the inspection was done about an hour before game time. No violations were found.
Cubs fan Kathy Jones was concerned.
"You don't want someone to go to the hospital sick or something from a hot dog," she said.
And across town at U.S. Cellular Field, Sox fan Bob Laudati said the city could handle game days if it sent a team of inspectors.
The companies that run the food concession stands at the Cell and Wrigley Field say food safety is a priority and they train employees in proper food handling techniques that meet or exceed local health department standards.
But they said the examples we found violated those standards. So did a spokesman for the Chicago Health Department.
The city spokesman defended the city's current system of conducting stadium inspections just before the season starts, saying it gives inspectors "optimal time to educate the food service operators."
The city spokesman also noted that there has not been a confirmed outbreak of food borne illness linked to a sports stadium in the last 20 years.
However, the spokesman said the door is open for possible inspections during game time in the future.
Fans who observe potentially unsafe food-preparation conditions at a stadium should report it to the management there and call 311.
