Get ready for some Incredible Fast Food Secrets Exposed By Fast-Food Workers. What goes on
in the kitchens of our nation’s fast-food restaurants just might make you think twice
about that next order.
Spitting In Your Food
On The Big Bang Theory, Penny often makes comments to Sheldon about how he should be
nicer to the people that prepare his food because otherwise, they will spit in it. But
Sheldon is certain that they will honor the Restaurant Workers' Solemn Oath of Ethics
and Cleanliness - until he learns that there is no such thing. Now, while we don’t think
that most restaurant workers need an oath to keep them from spitting in our food, maybe
there should still be one. We’ve all seen the security cam videos or even the videos
taken by employees themselves showing them spitting into someone's burger. And we’ve
also read the comments from ex-employees and managers at fast food joints confirming that
this goes on. Whether it's a rude reply or a demanding order, or even just a crabby employee,
sometimes, it just happens. And since this is probably most people's worst nightmare,
the best way to avoid the unwanted DNA sample in your food is to take Penny's advice and
just be nice, very nice. To be kind to those who serve you food should be the least you
can do. Obviously, the only way to guarantee that your food is spit-free is to make it
yourself. But, sometimes, you just want that juicy Big Mac without the fear of retaliation
from the employee serving up your food.
Frozen Food
There is an entire generation of fast-foodies who can remember the classic Dunkin Donuts
commercials featuring the “time to make the donuts” guy waking up really early in
order to make the donuts fresh for the day. Well, when they retired those commercials,
it looks like DD also gave up on their habit of making everything fresh at the restaurants
as well (assuming they ever did). We know this because of a brave Dunkin’ employee
who posted a video on TikTok showing the muffins, bagels, and donuts arriving frozen rather
than being made on site. However, many DD-lovers defended the practice, saying that it’s
ridiculous to think that a fast-food joint could actually make everything fresh all the
time. A similar “outing” happened on TikTok involving Panera Bread after an employee
posted a video showing frozen packets of mac and cheese being heated up at the location. In
regards to the “revelation,” Panera Bread released a statement saying that the mac and
cheese is made offsite with their proprietary recipe but is shipped frozen to their bakery-cafes.
They said that this allows them to avoid certain preservatives that don't meet their standards. Take
that for what you will, and you can decide if you want to order the frozen mac and cheese
next time you go to Panera Bread.
Specialty Items
Many fast-food restaurants have special menu items that try to draw your eyes and your
stomach to them. But as it turns out, specialty items aren’t always that special. Sometimes,
it's really less amazing than you would expect, especially since the price usually goes way
up. To paraphrase, a Reddit user said that specialty items are often just overpriced
versions of cheaper items, with very little to nothing added on. This particular person
used to work at a fast-food Japanese restaurant and said that they “had this thing called
a Volcano roll, and it cost $7.25.” He went on to say that, “a California roll there
cost $3.75. The Volcano roll was a Cali roll cut into the shape of a triangle and topped
with spicy mayo that has been heated up with about 10 cents worth of fish, literally just
a few bits." He then said that people would be much better off ordering a Cali roll and
paying a little extra for that same spicy mayo on the side. This idea applies to other
types of fast food joints as well. Take a second to really compare the ingredients in
a “specialty” item with similar and cheaper options on the menu, and we are pretty sure
that you will often conclude that it just isn’t worth it. And sometimes, it's also
pretty easy to recreate the “special” option without making any crazy and annoying
demands on the employees.
Less Popular Items aren’t As Fresh
You know that one special fast-food item you really like, but no one else seems to dig
as much. Well, the unfortunate truth is that it probably isn’t the freshest thing on
the menu. Put it this way: if an ingredient isn’t used much, then it probably isn’t
being filled up much either. And if it isn’t being filled up and turned over very often,
then, given the penny-pinching that goes on at most restaurants, the stuff you are getting
has probably been sitting there for a little while. One anonymous Reddit user posted on
the subject, saying that "unpopular ingredients are turned over less so you're more likely
to get something that was sitting around, perhaps even a little bad and picked over,
freezer burned, chucked into the pits of a walk-in freezer and thawed for your dietary
pleasure." So if you're the type of person who is concerned about freshness, it's probably
better just to go with the more popular items. Or, you know, at least make sure that one
or two ingredients is also used in other popular items. But, who isn’t “concerned” about
freshness? We guess you could ask the employees to make sure the items are “fresh” but
then, you have to trust their answer and make sure you aren’t rude about it. Because we
all know what rudeness can lead to.
Vegetarian Isn’t Always Vegetarian
These days, with the prevalence of vegetarian and vegan diets, many restaurants have jumped
on the non-meat bandwagon in order to bring in those who would normally not even walk
into a fast-food restaurant. But, all you vegans and vegetarians out there, be aware
that things might not always be as they seem. A perfect example of this is the 2001 lawsuit
filed against McDonald’s who claimed that their french fries were cooked in vegetable
oil but failed to mention to people that they were also flavored with beef tallow - a form
of beef fat - Oops! And while they did subsequently stop using beef tallow, they failed to mention
yet another pretty important detail: they still use natural beef flavoring to give the
fries that classic taste. So, yea, strike 2 for McD's. But it sure isn’t just McDonald’s
that has been guilty of such things. One user on Reddit explained that in high school, he
had a friend who was vegetarian but loved going to this local Mexican restaurant to
eat the burritos. Once he started working there he had to break her heart and let her
know that the sauce in the burritos was a meat sauce. Basically, unless you're eating
at a vegetarian/vegan restaurant, you should beware of the ingredients used in your food
and ask if there is any meat or meat products in the food you are ordering. Or better yet,
do a quick Google search and find out before you even go to the restaurant.
“New” Specials Maybe Aren’t That special
Which of these menu items sounds better to you: “Our NEW special” or “Old food
that’s about to expire, so we really need to get rid of it before we have to throw it
out?” Well, what if we told you that both statements were describing the same thing?
Words are important! And as many insiders and ex-employees have told us, restaurants
will often make special dishes out of soon-to-expire food in order to sell it before they have
to throw it out and make no money on it. Sure, sometimes a new special dish is actually the
restaurant creating something new and wanting to see if people like it enough for them to
move it to the permanent menu. But other times, as one Reddit user pointed out, it’s the
kitchen, “trying to get you to buy a product before they have to throw it out.” This
point was enforced by another comment from a user who said that when their brother, who
is a chef, is eating with them, no one is allowed to order any of the specials unless
he knows the chef working in the restaurant. Well, isn’t that special. NOT!
The “MEAT” at Taco Bell
One of the biggest questions people have about fast-food joints usually revolves around the
meat. For decades, there have been questions raised concerning the meat used in all the
chains. So much so that some chains, such as McDonald’s, A&W, and others, have produced
huge ad campaigns all about answering those questions and trying to assure people that
they use quality products. Then there’s Taco Bell. The questions about their meat
have been circulating for years - and the rumors surrounding the quality of said meat
have not been good. But thanks to some past employees of the chain, we have a little more
knowledge about what the meat being used actually is. Or at least what it isn’t. According
to one ex-Taco Bell employee on Reddit, you do not want to see how the meat comes into
the store. The meat used for the tacos and other things of the sort comes in big plastic
bags labeled ‘suitable for human consumption.’ Not only that, but apparently it also smells
absolutely awful until the seasoning is added. Uh...thanks for that - I think. Now, we should
point out that the comment was posted over two years ago, and it’s possible that Taco
Bell has made changes to their meat prep since then. But if they haven’t, at least, as
humans, it’s nice to know that the stuff they put in the tacos is suitable for us to
consume.
Don’t Ask For Fresh Fries
Something we know a lot of people like to do is ask for fresh french fries. We’ve
all been in line at a fast-food restaurant and had someone cut to the front of the line
to complain about their french fries being cold and asking for them to make fresh ones.
When this happens, are those people really getting fresh fries? The answer is probably
not. The fact is, McDonald’s sells so many french fries that they generally aren’t
sitting around for very long, so the ones you are getting have probably been made not
too long ago. Which means, asking for fresh ones is just going to annoy the employees.
An ex-manager of a McDonald’s restaurant said that employees hate when customers complain
about cold fries that have literally just been made. And “When you do this, it’s
the same as asking for a fresh hamburger — you’ll get old fries dunked in the oil for 15 seconds.”
So, if that equates to “fresh” for you, then go ahead and ask. Although, now that
we think about it, that kind of sounds like a way to get double-fried fries, which is
actually the gold standard for french fries at many higher-end restaurants. So, maybe
it’s worth trying the “my fries are cold” thing to see if that re-fry improves upon
the already delicious Mickey D’s french fries, but do it at your own risk.
Gloves Don’t Equal Sanitary
This might be the grossest entry on our list - and that’s even with another entry that
features a bag of smelly meat! We all know people’s hands are dirty, and unless they
are washing them every few minutes, most of us would prefer to see the people preparing
our food wearing gloves. Seeing gloved hands provides us with a sense of security and sanitary
satisfaction. But how sanitary is it? Does it actually keep the food cleaner and free
from the bacteria that we all have on our bare hands? The thing is, the gloves come
out of the box fresh and clean, but they only remain that way if the people wearing them
make an effort to keep them as such. You see, wearing gloves doesn’t have any benefits
if the employees treat the gloves as they do their bare hands. If you’re at all squeamish,
you might want to skip this next part. To quote an ex-manager at McDonald’s, “Your
food isn’t extra sanitary just because the grill workers wear gloves. Those same employees
take out trash and even go to the bathroom without removing their gloves. I’ve also
seen them scratch a few special places on their body while wearing gloves.” We aren’t
sure what else to say after that.
How Clean And Sanitary Are The Restaurants
Unfortunately, it seems that most fast food joints end up cutting corners when it comes
to the sanitary conditions of the restaurants. Now, obviously, management and the employees
differ from one location to the next, so if one location is a mess, that doesn’t mean
that all locations are going to be the same. But the problem is, you never really know.
Everything might look clean from in front of the counter, but what you can’t see could
hurt you. As the world saw in 2018 when a Popeye’s employee posted a video showing
the awful state of her location in Detroit. Shakita Shemere exposed the awful food storage
conditions - raw chicken thrown in the freezer, dirty containers, and garbage all over the
floors. After the video went viral, you would have hoped that Popeye’s would have come
out, praised Shakita for exposing the issue, and announced new policies to make sure this
never happened again in any of their locations. That’s what we would have hoped for, but
we think you can probably guess what really happened. Yup, she was fired! We know how
good those Popeye’s chicken sandwiches are, but we also understand if this causes you
to hesitate when ordering one in the future. Although, as we said before, just because
this Detroit location was an unsanitary pit of despair, that doesn’t mean the location
near you is suffering from the same woes.
Any fast food horror stories you want to share? Let us know in the comments section. Tap that
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