Woman Says Mouse Found In Restaurant Salad.

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- A Vancouver woman said she chewed on a dead mouse while eating at a pizza restaurant on Tuesday.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she was attending a parents Girl Scout meeting at Round Table pizza in Vancouver.

She said she didn't realize she was chewing on something strange until she took two bites.

She said she then spit it out and discovered it was a small mouse. Other people sitting near her at the restaurant said they nearly vomited at the sight of the mouse on her plate.

"She was gagging, screaming and spit something on her plate," said a woman who spoke on camera, but did not want to be identified. "And it's a mouse. She took off to the bathroom to go throw up."

Representatives from Round Table Pizza's corporate headquarters said they're taking the report seriously, but admit they're skeptical.

The Clark County Health Department inspected the restaurant Wednesday and found no mouse urine or mouse droppings in the preparation areas of the restaurant. The inspector did find an empty mouse trap that the restaurant claimed was placed there when it had pest problems about nine months ago.

The woman who said she bit into the mouse is hiring an attorney to take legal action against the restaurant.

Meanwhile, Round Table's corporate office is working with the health department to deal with the problem.

Man Calls 911 Because McDonald's Forgot His Juice Box

HILLSBORO, Ore. -- A man who called 911 to complain that McDonald's left a juice box out of his drive-through order was arrested on Monday, Portland television station KPTV reported.

Raibin Osman appeared before a Washington County judge Tuesday on a charge of misusing emergency services. He said he called emergency dispatchers after the drive-through employee wouldn't come back to the window to give him a juice box.

"We ordered some food and we went home and our order wasn't in there," Osman said in the 911 call. "And my little brother is crying for his orange juice."

Osman's father, Raof, said the emergency call was an innocent mistake and that it escalated when the McDonald's employee laughed at the poor English of his son-in-law.

"We came back with our receipt and said, 'Hey, can we have our order? We paid for it,'" Osman told the emergency dispatcher. "And she was like, 'Oh, no, I can't do anything about it.' And she was laughing at my brother-in-law because he ordered the food and couldn't speak English right."

Meanwhile, the McDonald's employee also called 911 after feeling threatened by the men.

"I showed them that everything was correct and they got mad and told me to give them more food," the employee said in the 911 call. "And I told them, I can't give any free food away."

When deputies arrived, Raibin Osman admitted it was not an emergency call but said he didn't know what number to use, according to the sheriff's office.

"You need help from the police, you have to call the 911," Osman's father said. "I don't have any other number."

Deputies said Osman had been using a Blackberry and could have tracked down a non-emergency line using the phone, but Osman's father said the officer simply should have provided his son with the non-emergency number.

Surprisingly, the incident hasn't stopped the Osman family from eating at the restaurant. They said they've already returned since the arrest.

"The employee made the mistake, not McDonald's," Osman's father said.

Osman posted bail and was released from the Washington County Jail on Tuesday night.

Skinned Cat, Raw Meat Found Behind Restaurant.

DORAVILLE,Ga. -- A local restaurant with a loyal following and rave reviews is under the microscope.

Doraville Police took pictures a few months ago of a skinned cat and raw meat stacked in the back of Ming's BBQ on Buford Highway.

The pictures, taken on January 23, forced Ming's to make big changes.

They showed grease traps overflowing, pigs stacked in buckets, boxes of raw meat sitting outside and pieces of raw meat hanging from a fence.

"One of the employees was taking, we don't know what kind of meat it was, but he was tossing it over a fence, and we did get pictures of that," said Officer Rosemary Martin.

There's also a picture of what police and the city solicitor describe as a dead skinned cat.

That obviously was the most disturbing thing we saw," said Lee Perkins, Doraville City Solicitor. "The cat appeared to be, it was the head and tail and skin of the cat. As the pictures show, it was right in back of the restaurant."

Police immediately called out DeKalb county health inspectors.

"There was a picture taken by police of a dead skinned cat. Did you inspectors see that?" 11Alive's Jennifer Leslie asked Ryan Cira, DeKalb County Environmental Health Manager.

"No we did not see what you're referring to," Cira said. "We were told Doraville code inspectors were handling that."

But county inspectors did take action.

They shut down Ming's for a short time that day over concerns about the temperature of the meat that was left outside.

"Did you consider closing it for good?" Leslie asked.

"That is a last resort," Cira said. "We do not begin any inspection with that in mind."

Instead, inspectors returned six times over the next two weeks.

On january 28, Ming's scored a failing 59.

But by february 10, the score jumped to 96.

"That's pretty dramatic. How did they do that?" Leslie asked.

"They took good directions and good instructions from us," Cira said. "They've been in business for 15 years, and I believe the average score over the years has been a B."

One the owners of Ming's, Jack Cheng, declined our request for an interview, but he did agree to talk off-camera.

He insisted the meat in the police photos wasn't outside for very long and was in the process of being moved to refrigerators.

Since then, he said Ming's has stopped ordering so much food, changed food suppliers and put food safety managers on duty at all hours.

As for the skinned cat, Cheng said he didn't know anything about it and was offended that police tried to connect it to the restaurant.

"I had a concern that people would be eating at that restaurant," Perkiness, the city solicitor, said.

In municipal court last month, the owners of Mine's were found guilty of having too much trash in the back and letting grease pour down a storm drain.

The judge ordered them to pay a $5000 fine, serve 60 hours of community service and submit to weekly inspections by police.

The restaurant's also due for another routine inspection by the county.

"Is this a good restaurant that had a bad day?" Leslie asked Cirri.

"I would say so, yes," Cirri said. "I think they're on the right track."

Ming's is one of eight restaurants temporarily shut down by DeKalb county health inspectors in the last year.

59 Critical Violations And Still Serving Food?

PALMETTO, FL -- Imperial Garden Chinese Restaurant on 10th Street East in Palmetto has spent over $60,000 in renovations to the front of the house. But it's the back of the house that had state inspectors busy.

Inspectors found 80 violations in 2009 and 59 of those were critical, including live and dead roaches on top of the refrigerator, under the food storage area, on the food line, inside the sink, and even in the sauce on the grill!

Maybe it would help to clean the kitchen more frequently? Once every 3-4 weeks? Yikes!!!

Sonic Closed After Cop Says He Found Roach In Food.

Minden LA. -- Imagine enjoying your favorite snack from your favorite restaurant and suddenly, a piece of it starts to move! That's what a Minden police officer says happened to him. The officer says there was a roach in his food.

The Sonic restaurant in Minden voluntarily shut down following his complaint.

Police Officer Danny Turner said he usually eats at the Sonic every day. He also orders the same food. But after what Turner called a disgusting discovery, he's now looking for a new spot to get his fast food fix.



Turner took pictures of his meal shortly after making the discovery, then took the food straight to the manager.

Turner said the general manager told him the restaurant never had a pest problem before, but Turner called the health department just to be sure. According to the violations report, the inspector found roaches on the cook line, among other violations.

Sonic managers voluntarily closed the restaurant one day later while it conducted pest control treatments.

View The Following Videos With Caution And A Strong Stomach.

Hear at the Dirty Dining Network, our staff is always on the hunt for gross reports and videos showing unsafe food practices. But the videos below shocked or staff to the point where we seriously considered not posting them on our site. While they are shocking, we felt it was important to post them and show the horrible way some idiots prepare our food. So before you take a look, please do so with caution.

The two people in the videos, Kristy Hammonds Thompson, 31 and Michael Setzer, 32 , used to work at the Domino’s Pizza located at 10th Street N.W., Conover, North Carolina. That was before they decided to upload their, videos to youtube. The videos were later taken off of youtube. We were able to acquire them from the website GoodAsYou.

We have no evidence that the food was actually served to customers. Either way, it is disgusting.

Ok...We Confess...This May Be A True "Dirty Video".

All Kelly Coffman-Lee wanted to do was share her philosophy of life with everyone else on the road. "We're all vegan in my family," the Centennial woman says of herself, her husband and their three kids. "Tofu is a staple, and my car is just a mass of bumperstickers about animal rights and global warming. It displays my philosophy of life." And she thought a vanity license plate proclaiming her love of healthy, animal-free eating would look just perfect in the middle of those messages on her fuel-efficient Suzuki, the smallest car she could find that could still fit three car seats.

So this winter, she filled out the proper forms and submitted her plate request to the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles, which initially accepted it. But not long after, Coffman-Lee got a call from a state bureaucrat informing her that, on second look, the DMV was rejecting "ILVTOFU."

Because it was "possibly offensive to the general public." Because, well, people could get the wrong idea.

"Dirty, dirty DMV," Coffman-Lee says. To her, "ILVTOFU" clearly refers to loving tofu, not loving to fu** you. "I'd never put that on my family vehicle, for sure," she points out.

"Our keen-eyed license-plate reviewers see that saying something else, unfortunately," responds Mark Couch, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Revenue, which oversees the DMV. "That dangling FU on this proposal is what prevented her from getting that plate."

Not surprisingly, PETA has already weighed in on this shocking rejection of not-exactly-free speech (after all, you have to pay for vanity plates). "It's shocking to us that the DMV calls a vegetarian plate offensive," says spokeswoman Lindsay Rajt. "We think the DMV can do a lot of good by reconsidering its decision and allowing people to discover the joy of soy."

But that's not likely to happen, according to Couch. In fact, anything ending with FU won't pass muster with the DMV — and FUC and FUK are also forbidden.

At this point, Coffman-Lee does not plan on going back to the drawing board. "That's really the one I liked," she says. "More people need to start taking responsibility. I feel it's all on the hippie freaks to do the right thing."

Honk if you LVTOFU.

Rodent Infestation Closes Target Store.

(April 3, 2009) PIKESVILLE, Md. -- You often hear of restaurants being shut down because of rodent problems, but an entire Target store?

That was the case at the Target store on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville, Md., apparently rodent carcasses and feces were strewn throughout the store. Pet food bags and human food packages were also chewed open.

The Maryland Department of Environmental Protection shut down the store because it was infested with mice and other rodents. Baltimore County officials said the store had a problem at its snack bar in February, but it has since spread to the entire store.

Customers said they tried to shop at the store, but a manager was there all day Thursday to turn them away with no clear reason as to why the store was closed. Some said they were told the store was doing maintenance. One woman said the store told her it was a water main problem.

Jonas Jacobson, of the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Resource Management, said his office got an anonymous complaint at the end of March.

"We went out and found a much larger mouse infestation problem through the store," he said.

Jacobson said rodent carcasses and feces were strewn throughout the store. He said pet food bags and human food containers were also chewed open.

The World's Deadliest Spider Found In A Tulsa Whole Foods Store.

TULSA, OK -- The world's deadliest spider found in a Tulsa grocery store. An employee at Whole Foods Market at 1401 East 41st Street found a Brazilian Wandering Spider wandering around in their produce section.

The store handed the spider over to biologists at the University of Tulsa who say that employee is lucky to be alive.

Terry Childs is the director of TU's Animal Facilities and a self-proclaimed spider lover. He has a scary-looking but harmless friend Cuddles the tarantula. He is harmless, unless you're an insect.

"The venom starts to break the prey down on the inside and then she slurps it out kind of like a smoothie," said Terry Childs.

Childs' department is now home to a Brazilian Wandering Spider. It's being kept in a terrarium with a do not disturb sign. More people die from the spider's bite than any other spider in the world.

"Within minutes you will have breathing problems, you'll start to lose control of your muscles, you'll start to drool and within 20 to 25 minutes you'll probably collapse on the floor and die of asphyxiation," said Terry Childs.

And, that's why he says people at Tulsa's Whole Foods market are lucky to be alive.

On Sunday an employee found the spider wandering across the bananas in the produce section.

"She managed to capture it in one of these containers until I got there," said Terry Childs.

Apparently the spider, also known as a banana spider, hitched a ride on some bunches of bananas all the way from Honduras. It turns out it is the kind of thing that happens all the time, but this particular spider is more threatening than most.

"This particular one happens to be one of the most aggressive ones I've actually come across. This thing will actually jump at you," said Terry Childs.

A manager at Whole Foods wouldn't talk on camera but said they check their produce for spider and insects. In fact, he said, that's how the world's deadliest spider was found in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"There is an antidote for the bite of this spider. Unfortunately I don't think we have any around here," said Terry Childs with the University of Tulsa.

The spider will not stay at TU for long. It will likely be taken to another university for research.
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Woman Contaminated Dairy Queen Malts With Ajax.

FERNDALE, Wash. -- An employee of a Ferndale Dairy Queen says she “accidentally” poured Ajax into the malt dispenser, sickening two customers, according to court documents.

Alexandra Margot Georgia Dale, 44, has been charged with two counts of first-degree assault in connection with the poisoned malts.

Two men reported burning sensations in their mouth and on their tongue after consuming the malt beverages from a Dairy Queen located in the 5600 block of Riverside Drive on Feb. 25,2009.

One victim said that he tasted something funny when he took the first bite of his chocolate malt. When he took a second bite, he said he felt a burning sensation in his mouth.

He alerted the Dairy Queen Manager and by the time he got home, he had three red chemical burns on his tongue. They went away a couple days later.

A second man had worse injuries. He had to stay in the hospital for two days with medical issues including ulcers located in his esophagus, detectives with the Ferndale Police Department said.

According to probable cause documents, when the Health Department tested the victim’s malt, they found it was contaminated with Dairy Queen’s fat fryer cleaner, Ajax.

Detectives obtained surveillance video and saw the employee, Dale, pouring the Ajax into the malt dispenser, documents said.

She was later arrested on March 6.

When she was questioned by the detectives, Dale gave several different stories.

Documents stated Dale first said she followed the proper procedure to fill the malt dispenser. When she was told there was surveillance video, Dale then said she had never filled the dispenser before Feb. 19, when she contaminated the malts.

Dale went on to tell detectives that she has been a manager at another Dairy Queen and knows how to use the malt dispenser, detective said.

Eventually Dale said she “accidentally poured the chemical into the malt dispenser,” according to documents.

Detectives said in their opinion, the malt mix and the Ajax container “could not be confused.”

Dale’s motive is still unknown

There's A Rat In County Government....And A Few Roaches Also.

COUNTY, Ga. - The Health Department has shutdown a popular eatery inside the Fulton County government headquarters.

Fulton health officials said an inspection of Chamber's Café conducted Monday revealed violations of the county food code.

Inspectors said they found rats, roaches and other problems inside.

The café has until March 12 to fix the violations, said health officials.

Until that time, health officials said they will conduct daily inspections to ensure compliance with food codes.

Allen's Green Beans Are A Big Hit With Rats

Last year a Beaumont catering company found a rat head in a can of Allen's green beans. The same thing happened to a Utah woman and now it may have happened again. A New Braunfels (Texas) woman says she found the body of a rat in a can of Allen's Green Beans she was preparing for the Super Bowl. The Beaumont catering company wants to rally support to either boycott Allen's or file a class action lawsuit to get the plant cleaned up.

The woman from New Braunfels remembered a similar story from Beaumont. She decided to call the Beaumont business and her local news. The New Braunfels Wal-Mart agreed to take Allen's Green Beans off the shelves. The same thing that happened in Beaumont less than a year ago.



However, other stores across the country carry Allen's but Pamela Byrd doesn't think anything changed after she reported the rat head. So now three different people from three different places have something in common.


"Go to the plant. Inspect the plant. Find out what's going on. Obviously something is going on. This lady is from New Braunfels. Ms. Watson is from Utah. We're in Beaumont. Ok? Something is going on," said Pamela Byrd.

And all they want is something done about it.

Worker: I Saw A Rat Roasted In Peanuts

A former employee of the Georgia peanut plant at the center of a criminal investigation in a nationwide salmonella outbreak says he saw a rat dry-roasting in a peanut area.

Jonathan Prather was one of 50 people who lost their jobs last month when the Peanut Corporation of America shut down its plant in Blakely.
The outbreak is blamed in as many as eight deaths and has sickened some 500 people, authorities say. Many products made with peanut paste from the plant have been recalled.

In addition, a peanut processing plant in Texas run by the Virginia company blamed for the outbreak operated for years un-inspected and unlicensed by government health officials, The Associated Press has learned.

Prather describes a building in which roaches were a constant problem, saying, "Roaches get up there in the dry roast. Some of them blend in with the peanuts. You'd never know they're there."

Health inspectors also noticed roaches as they searched for the source of the salmonella, saying, "A live roach and several dead roaches were observed in the firm's wash room."

But, three or four months ago, Prather says, he saw the rat "dry roasting in the peanuts."

He says he also frequently saw rat droppings in the area where peanut products were made, where Prather worked.

Health inspectors say they found "gaping" holes in walls, but didn't report evidence of rodents or droppings. They did find holes elsewhere, saying, "There were open gaps observed as large as ... two-and-a-half feet at the air conditioner intakes located in the roof of the firm."

Prather says there were "plenty of holes in the roof, throughout the roof. And when it rained, water just came through the whole plant."

Mold was also spotted by investigators, as were mops washed in the same sink as peanut product production equipment, Glor points out.
"Any of these alleged violations," Glor says, "could be the source of salmonella, which the company's own documents say was discovered at least a dozen times. Peanut Corporation of America is accused of retesting the samples, "lab shopping," until it got favorable results."

Prather says it saddens him that many people have been impacted by the salmonella, adding he's speaking out now.

Kung Pao "Mouse"

Wednesday, February 4, 2009 EL PASO, Texas -- Lin's Buffet in El Paso, Texas, hasn't re-opened its doors since a woman claimed she found a mouse in her food.

Health inspectors conducted an unannounced inspection, which the restaurant failed, EL Paso station KFOX reported.

Food inspectors said the restaurant will not open until all violations are corrected. Authorities investigated after Maria Gonzalez reported she found a mouse in her food on Friday night.

"I saw its tail and I started throwing up," Gonzalez said.

According to the Health Department's Web site, Lin's has failed six food inspections in eight months.

"Just knowing that mice carry so many diseases. Even if it's cooked and everything...but," Gonzalez said.

A Lin's manager claimed Gonzalez may have put the mouse on her food.

How Safe Is The Food At The Garden?

BOSTON (WBZ Kathy Curran) ― From rodent droppings to unsanitized utensils and improperly stored food -- those are just some of the violations found by health inspectors at the TD Banknorth Garden. So when you go catch a game how safe is the food? The I-Team checked out the inspection reports at the Garden and Gillette Stadium.

Boston health inspectors making the rounds say if what they found isn't corrected some food being served up could make sports fans sick.

According to the 2008 inspection reports from the restaurants and concessions at the TD Banknorth Garden, there were 54 violations in two inspections.

"Three food borne illness factors," said Assistant Commissioner Thomas Goodfellow with the Division of Health Inspections.

The violations at the Premium Club, one of the upscale restaurants at the Garden, included improper storage of raw poultry and dairy products not being at the right temperature.

"The worry is that there is a bacterium on the product that hasn't been cooked," Goodfellow explained.

The Banner Restaurant failed inspection because they weren't sanitizing utensils properly. At the executive suites and legends restaurant there were minor violations. The biggest problems were in the food stands around the arena.

There were rodent droppings on the floor. At Hungry for Hockey the hot dogs weren't hot enough, which means bacteria could grow. In other area grills, ceilings and floors were dirty, utensils weren't sanitized, and fruit flies were circling and landing on fresh fruit.

Together the restaurants and concessions at the Garden feed about 18,000 people daily. A spokesperson for the Garden says that puts these violations in perspective, but the city says any violation is serious.

"We cite them to get them corrected," Goodfellow explained. "We cite them also to get them educated. The food service operators that this is an issue you're going to have to take care of that.

We were there as city inspectors were back on site last week checking kitchens.

On that scheduled re-inspection the Garden passed.

We told Bruins fan Shannon McLaughlin and her crew about the previous violations as they headed in to catch the game.

"I think it should be a higher standard," she said. "They're feeding mass numbers of people so it's understandable, but obviously I would like to see them do their best to keep it safe."

In a statement, SportService, the company in charge of the Garden food, says it takes guests health and safety very seriously and assures fans they expend great effort in adhering to the highest standards.

The I-Team headed south to Foxboro to the home of the Patriots to see how the food at Gillette Stadium stacked up. We looked at the past seven inspections of the stadium. According to town records there wasn't one violation.

"It might be surprising, but it's true," said Foxboro Board of Health chairman Eric Arvedon.

When town officials were asked about the results of these inspections, they said they only had one person doing inspections for this stadium and the entire town.

But the chairman for the Foxboro board of health tells us it's not a manpower issue. The Patriots have a food safety consulting company that inspects everything and helps them stay in compliance.

"That's proactive," Arvedon said. "That costs money but in the end look at the results, the results speak for themselves. We don't just go in and inspect once or twice we go to every event and spotcheck."

"We want to make sure when we finish with the inspections they're aware of what they have to do and that food establishment is going to operate in a safe and sanitary manner 365 days a year," Goodfellow said.

Officials for the Patriots and the Garden both say they train and certify employees in food safety. Foxborough has certified two additional people in town to do inspections.

San Antonio's Dirty Dozen

Roaches, rodents, and flying insects. When you head out to eat you expect a clean restaurant. But how do you know for sure?

The health department gets more than 100 complaints of food poisoning a year. To keep you safe, health inspectors make sure restaurants follow food safety codes.

Inspectors give demerits violations, such as, food at unsafe temperatures, contamination of food, and signs of roaches or mice.

Dirty Dozen #12: We have a two-way tie with an average of just over 22 demerits. At the Jacala Restaurant on West Ave., inspectors found insects and slime in the ice machine. At Flor De Chiapas on Blanco the inspector found meat sitting out to thaw and food in the fridge wasn't labeled with a use-by date.

Dirty Dozen #10: With an average score of 23 demerits is Sushi Zushi on I-10 and Wurzbach. The inspector found they were not storing cleaning chemicals properly and he found drain flies.

Dirty Dozen #9: El Sombrero on Bandera averaged more than 23 demerits. The inspector found evidence of rodents and they were using the same cutting board for the raw chicken and the vegetables.

Dirty Dozen #8: Andrea's Mexican Restaurant located on SW Loop 410 pulled in an average of more than 24 demerits. Inspectors found raw meat bleeding on the potatoes. They were eventually thrown out. Also, there was no soap in the employee restroom.

Dirty Dozen #7: Two restaurants tie again with an average of 25 demerits. At the Taqueria Jalisco on Zarzamora the health inspector found rodent droppings on two separate occasions and evidence of insects. At Rocky's Tacos on Pleasanton the inspector reported flies in the food prep area and noticed employees were not washing their hands after handling food.

Dirty Dozen #5: El Potosino on Bandera Road came in with an average of more than 25 demerits. The health inspector found roaches in the kitchen and gnats in the storage room.

Dirty Dozen #4: Taqueria Jalisco on Old Pearsall Rd. scored an average of 26 demerits. After a customer complained of seeing a mouse in the dining room, the inspector found rodent droppings and spoiled vegetables in the pantry.

Dirty Dozen #3: Taqueria El Rancho De Jalisco on Dollarhide averaged more than 26 demerits. In one inspection, the inspector wrote "too many flies". In another, he noted that chicken was thawing in the hand sink.

Dirty Dozen #2: Taqueria Guadalajara on Vance Jackson averaged 29 demerits. The inspector found gnats in the kitchen, food cooling on the floor, and food kept at an unsafe temperature.

So which restaurant was the dirtiest?

Dirty Dozen #1: China Harbor III on Southwest Military Drive. They served up an unbelievable 45 average demerits on three food safety inspections from the health department in the past twelve months. On one visit the inspector gave them 59 demerits. He cited them for storing gasoline in the restaurant and smoking in the kitchen.

The inspector also told the manager to stop spraying raid insect spray around food and customers. The manager refused to comment, but some customers gave us their reaction to the news.

"It's kind of weird, you wouldn't think a big restaurant like this would have the problems that it does have with the food control and the sanitary you know conditions," said one customer.

Another told us,"That's nasty. You know for being a buffet it should be a better place."
Only three restaurants responded to our story.

The owner of El Sombrero said they haven't had a bad inspection in months and everything is clean. The owner of Sushi Zushi said everything is always clean and all violations have been corrected. Workers at Taqueria Guadalajara said they have new owners and are fixing all the problems.

Women Claims Seeing Rats at McDonald's

New Haven,CT,USA - A Hamden woman claims she saw rats running around a local McDonald's but the restaurant manager insists she's exaggerating.

It was Saturday evening when Sue Calistro, her boyfriend and his 3-year-old were at the McDonald's in the Hamden Mart on Dixwell Avenue sitting in the child's play area when she says she spotted something.

"We looked down, a rat goes, runs over my foot, runs into the corner," Calistro, of Branford, said. "And there was about two or three of them running around one way and then the other co-worker saw a couple on the other end so at that point, we just grabbed the kids, left."

Surprised, horrified, Calistro called the manager and McDonald's corporation.

"They claimed it was from the doors being left open, from garbage around the building, you know, basically blaming it on customers when they come in, leaving the doors open too long," she said.

She says, they told her, what she saw were perhaps, some mice. "A mouse is about maybe an inch, inch and a half and they were a good three to four, maybe five inches," Calistro said.

Either way, she called a local news station, and they arrived at the store in question they did not see any rodents. The manager said they called an exterminator Monday morning after getting Calistro's complaint. But he says, they do not have a problem with rodents here and have passed all health inspections.

Still, Sue says, it's the last time she'll head to that McDonald's for a bite to eat.

The Dirt On Chicago's Airport Dining

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Black mold is found in ice served at Midway Airport. At O'Hare, a rat hair is discovered in a sandwich. Before you fly out for the holidays, CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini exposes three years of health department violations in "The Dirt on Airport Dining."

They are popular airport eateries and they've repeatedly been caught putting travelers at risk. CBS 2 Investigators examined three years of inspection records revealing filthy and unsanitary conditions at O'Hare and Midway airports.

And then the 2 Investigators followed Arlene Lopez. She is one of the Chicago health department inspectors responsible for catching health code violators before they make you sick.

"They can get stomach aches, diarrhea," Lopez said.

She and her team have investigated numerous illness complaints at the airports, including E. coli and food poisoning from a pesticide.

At Midway Airport last year a traveler reported getting sick after eating at Lalo's. An inspection then found food surrounded by insects and food stored at unsafe temperatures. It was the third year in a row that Lalo's was cited for critical temperature violations.

Then it happened again this month – more food that can make you sick had to be destroyed.

Four-day-old beef was found at an unsafe temperature. It was thrown away along with an egg product left next to the grill.

The 2 Investigators' cameras also caught workers dripping and splashing water on the same faucet used to give customers drinking water.

At another Midway restaurant, Luigi Stefani's, sandwiches had to be destroyed and a critical violation was found – black mold in the ice machine. Stefani's is a repeat offender failing inspections in 2005 and 2006.

Some of O'Hare's restaurants also have repeated failures.

Pizzas, sausage, cheese and yogurt had to be destroyed at Reggio's Pizza Express in Terminal 1. It's failed three past inspections since 2007 for critical violations that include coolers not working.

The Doghouse restaurant ended up in the doghouse when inspectors found meat and cheese stored at unsafe temperatures. The food was immediately destroyed. It's also a repeat offender and had its license suspended in 2006. This time, the refrigerator was broken.

When asked about the condition of airport food, traveler Mike Sackett said, "It's pathetic."

Chili's in O'Hare's Terminal 1 has failed four inspections in the last three years. In 2006, a customer complained that he got sick with symptoms of E. coli after eating a Chili's burger. A year later another person reported getting sick - again from a burger.

When traveler Jeff Jung was asked if he expected restaurants at airports to be safe, he said, "You would hope so."

Since 2006, Manchu Wok in Terminal 1 failed twice. Wolfgang Puck restaurants had critical violations in the last two years, failing once in Terminal 1 and once in Terminal 3, where this year a customer claimed he got sick. Inspectors investigating the complaint observed two cooks with open sores on their hands. One had more than 20 that were red and blistered.

When traveler Vicki Kornick was asked what she thought about restaurants that repeatedly fail, she said, "I don't think they should be open."

Gate Gourmet, which provides food on airplanes, had four failures since 2006 including problems with food temperature, insects and rodents.

After repeated failures, Chili's in Terminal 1, Manchu Wok, and Gate Gourmet passed their most recent re-inspections. Reggio's passed with conditions that it fix the food storage system. Wolfgang Puck passed its most recent inspection as well and a spokesperson says it disputes the open sore allegations claiming all its cooks wear gloves. The Dog House repaired its refrigerator, but is going out of business this week.

Luigi Stefani's and Lalo's at Midway also passed with conditions that they fix their critical violations.