A video showing a McDonald’s employee using a fries-warming oven to dry a floor mop has gone viral online. The staff member at the outlet in Brisbane, Australia, is seen holding the mop head under a heater and just above where fries are stored. The person who filmed the clip spoke to journalists in Australia and said that another staff member alerted the employee in question that drying a mop directly over fries was not a good idea, but the floor cleaner remained in place for minutes afterward.
The unnamed customer said she posted the clip online because “Something needs to be done.” She asked what McDonald’s staff might do behind the scenes if they are willing to dry a floor mop above fries in full view of their customers. Recent instances of slack hygiene at McDonald’s provide clues as to the answer.
In 2023, for example, environmental health officers in London, UK, issued a fine of $596,500 to a McDonald’s branch after they discovered a mouse infestation. The officers visited the branch in Leytonstone, East London, after a customer complained that they found rodent droppings on their burger wrapper. The outlet was closed for cleaning, and a local Magistrate Court ordered a fine of a further $27,600.
Further afield in Sri Lanka, several outlets were closed in March by the country’s Commercial High Court as a battle between the US parent and its franchisees commenced. McDonald’s attorneys told the court that it had terminated a contract with franchise owner Abans because the latter had failed to uphold the hygiene standards expected.
In the US in 2020, McDonald’s reached out to the prestigious Mayo Clinic for advice on maintaining hygiene through the coronavirus pandemic, which it says has continued. Chris Kempczinski, President and CEO, said the new processes would be carried forward in 38,000 restaurants in 120 countries, and allow McDonald’s to “to further apply leading-edge science to our restaurant practices.”