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.
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