Does Philadelphia Arena Food Pass the Test?

Really cool article over at ESPN.

They did an investigation into the quality of stadium and arena food by collecting “more than 16,000 food-safety inspection reports from health departments that monitor the 111 professional football, baseball, basketball, and hockey facilities across North America.”

In that data, they found that 28 percent of those venues incurred some kind of “high-level violation,” which doesn’t surprise me as somebody who used to work in the food service industry.

Researchers parsed all of this to come up with a nationwide ranking, and all three of the venues in South Philadelphia fell somewhere in the middle of the list, after the jump:

Citizens Bank Park

0.35 high level violations per inspection, among them:

• Inspectors witnessed food being prepared on top of a trash receptacle on April 11, 2017. The food was discarded.
• At another concession stand on April 2, 2016, there was “pink slime” in the ice maker and hair in an ice bin, as well as mouse droppings on the floor of a cooler where pizzas were stored.

Lincoln Financial Field

0.22 high level violations per inspection, among them:

• Dairy products in the owner’s suite measured 53 degrees, when they should have been held at 41 degrees or less to prevent spoiling, during an Oct. 21, 2016, inspection.
• Inspectors found mouse feces on the floor and at wall junctures in a dry storage area on Aug. 24, 2017, and noted that exterior openings did not prevent rodents or insects from entering the concession.

Wells Fargo Center

0.22 high level violations per inspection, among them:

• Inspectors found mouse droppings in a concession storage area on May 3, 2016.
• Inspectors saw fruit flies in the front serving prep area of a concession on April 29, 2016.

Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (Hornets) came in dead last on the list while Oracle Arena (Warriors) had the fewest issues. About half of the New York venues didn’t score so well, which is a real shame.

I also found this note about Bank of America Stadium somewhat amusing:

“MOLDY CREAM CHEESE”

On June 16, 2016, in the main kitchen, inspectors found moldy, expired cream cheese along with out-of-date deli turkey and various cheeses, along with a “significant amount of dried food residue” on a slicer from the previous day.

Pretty sure there is moldy cream cheese and out-of-date deli meat in my refrigerator right now.