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How clean are fast food restaurants in New York City? – Metro US

How clean are fast food restaurants in New York City?

McDonald's
Metro file

Fast food workers are on the path to getting $15 an hour.

But how clean are the kitchens they work in?

There are about 24,000 restaurants, bars and cafes in New York City.Metro compared health department violations, which are all available online at NYC Open Data,from some of the city’s largestnumbers from some of the city’s fast food chains acrossthe five boroughs.

Here’s how they did:

McDonald’s: 243 stores in 2014, according to the Center for an Urban Future’s State of the Chains report.

2015: 757 violations through early August

2014: 1,210 violations

2013: 1,159 violations

Burger King: 81 stores in 2014

2015:339 violations through early August

2014: 459 violations

2013: 441 violations

Wendy’s: 47 stores in 2014

2015: 152 violations through early August

2014: 215 violations

2013: 102 violations

A Burger King spokesperson said the following in a statement to Metro, but did speak on the specific violations: “Cleanliness is a top priority at all Burger King restaurants. The franchisees that own and operate the restaurants in New York City work diligently to maintain their restaurants and work closely with the city toresolveany issues that may ariseduringthe normal course of business. Without detailed information or context surrounding these numbers it is not possible to address the merits of any of these instances.”

McDonald’s and Wendy’s did not respond for a requets to comment by deadline.

A NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene spokesman told Metro the department does not keep track of how cleanfast food chains are compared to other restaurants.

“In our experience the city treats all food service establishments the same as far as the requirements, regardless of what type of restaurant or store it is, if they’re serving food, and ice is even considered a food. The rules are the rules for everyone across the board, and the requirements are the same,” said LeonLubarsky, a lawyer who runs Letter Grading Consulting, which advises food businesses on health department compliance.

“I don’t think we can distinguish between a burger place in the East Village and McDonald’s, it depends on the management team and the employees in the kitchen,” Lubarsky said. “The rules are the same.”

Lubarsky said, however, that not all letter grades are equal, as having an empty soap dispenser or roll of paper towels (10 points each), are penalized more than the presence of live mice or droppings, which are a minimum of five points.

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