Mice in the kitchen!: Disgusting conditions in German Burger King locations

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She still can’t believe what Ella S.* went through during her time as an employee at Burger King. For a year she worked at the branch office in Winterthur’s Old Town. Speaking to Blick, the young woman unpacked — to protect potential customers. Photos show how badly things are going at the fast food giant. Old frying oil, unrefrigerated meat patties or expired salad: “In the meantime, I’m ashamed that I gave people the food. Because I assumed that it was actually no longer good,’ says S. to Blick.

When asked by Blick, Burger King said the photos were taken out of context. Everything is fine in the affected industry.

Burger King is also facing accusations of disgust in Germany. In the RTL program ‘Team Wallraff’, undercover reporters around the journalist Günter Wallraff (80) revealed bad situations – and that was last year. Mice were discovered in the kitchen, among other things. The fast food giant was shocked, vowed to get better and ordered the affected restaurants to close for the time being.

Nobody washed their hands

Wallraff has now sent another team to Burger King branches to check if anything happened. No! Expired products have been found again. Employees simply stuck labels with the use-by date on them or simply kept the products on sale longer. Even with meat, the correct cold chain would not be maintained.

It so happened that meat for the hamburgers was kept at more than ten degrees. Shortcomings in employee hygiene were also documented. “During my assignment, I did not see my colleagues wash their hands once,” says one of the reporters in the broadcast, who smuggled himself in as an employee with a hidden camera. He saw colleagues tending the bins, occasionally touching their faces and then preparing food for customers – without washing their hands. Employees would also feed themselves, put some in their mouths here and there and then continue working.

Burger King wants to investigate the circumstances

There were also alleged violations of labor law. According to “Team Wallraff” reporters, there are violations of the minimum wage and rest periods. Among other things, cheap labor from Eastern Europe and Africa was allegedly hired and housed in a hotel near the branch. Housing costs were deducted from the employee’s wages.

Burger King Germany says in response to the images to RTL that the conditions in the affected branches are being monitored. However, the company also stressed, “At this time, however, we cannot understand the allegations you have made about ‘law violations’ and we firmly reject them.” (jmh)

* Name known to editors

Source: Blick