If you are one of those people who frequent the stadiums to watch major league sporting events you might want to be careful about the food, maybe even the drinks. ESPN, the cable sports network has pulled out and reviewed the inspection report of the health department conducted for 107 stadiums in North America where major sporting events have taken place in 2009. The results aren’t very good, in fact nauseating.
According to the report, 30% of the total number of venues has more than 50 percent of their beverage and food vendors receiving citations for breaking the standards of handling food and the violations according to the report have been called major and critical. Some of these standards include storing food and then serving them at improper temperatures that encourage the growth of harmful pathogens, insufficient equipment failing to provide the right temperature for food storage, bad hygiene practices including habits such as not washing hands after touching faces or using restrooms by the employees working in the food work places, presence of rodents and other insects in areas where food can easily be contaminated and cross contamination or using same equipment for different purposes like to cut chicken and then tomato on the same chopping board.
These violations are potentially dangerous and sound really unnerving. However, in spite of these bad reviews, we haven’t heard of any documented versions of an outbreak of illnesses after a major sporting event anywhere. ESPN has found a few sources who have suffered from one sort of illness or the other due to the effects of bad food being served to them in the stadium. However, it is very hard to trace the sources given that they are few and far in between (possibly because many don’t buy anything while in the stadium, preferring to use their cup holders to enjoy a drink of water or soda on the way to the stadium). Having said that it is best to be safe rather than sorry and the review of the report is worth considering as it is very hard to trace the illnesses to the food source. The outbreak usually happens quite a few days later and hence not easy to be traced back to the food.
Meanwhile as per the statistics, the M & T Bank stadium that hosts the games of the Baltimore Ravens is safer than the FedEx field that hosts the redskins game with the former having 4% vendors who have received citations and the latter having 36%. On the other hand the Verizon center has all 100% vendors receiving citations so it is best to avoid food at the venue and perhaps better to bring your own drink in a cup holder to refresh yourself on the way there instead of getting thirsty and possibly contracting illness while at the game.
