Report: Royals And Chiefs Concessions Are Disgusting, Unhygienic Mess

Were you one of those fans fortunate enough to see the Royals' magical postseason run in person, or perhaps you're a loyal Chiefs supporter? If so good for you, but it means you probably ate some mold or rodent shit.

According to an Outside the Lines investigation, Aramark—which has the concessions contracts at both Kauffman and Arrowhead stadiums—has terrible food hygiene practices in those stadiums. Among the allegations brought to OTL by an Aramark whistleblower were:

Cockroaches in vending areas, mouse feces on the same tray as pizza dough, sinks where employees were supposed to wash their hands being blocked by boxes or trash, employees eating in food prep areas and trays of food headed for customers that measured at unsafe temperatures.

Jon Costa, Aramark's district food safety manager, brought the violations to OTL's attention after he says he spent months trying to get Aramark senior management to do something about them, to no avail. Aramark officials—who have placed Costa on paid administrative leave—dispute that claim:

"The random collection of isolated and questionable photographs that the employee distributed represents selective snapshot 'moments-in-time' that without proper context can support any number of conclusions."

In addition to contacting OTL, on November 3rd Costa sent an e-mail to the health department, which immediately sent inspectors to both stadiums. What they found was "shocking", according to health department division manager Naser Jouhari. Despite the fact that there were no events that day at either venue—meaning the food stands weren't operating and should've just been clean and mostly empty—the inspectors found 37 critical violations, and 20 of the 26 stands examined had some violation.

All of the violations have since been corrected, but if you're heading to this weekend's four throwgasm game against the Seahawks, we suggest you eat at home beforehand.

[ ESPN]