The Food Standards Agency says 12 per cent of restaurants represent a high risk to public health. Even some of the top restaurants can fall foul of hygiene regulations. So, for the fast-food joints with thousands of branches across the country, keeping them as clean as they should be is quite a challenge.
Using some chemical cotton wool buds and cool bags, we tested for bacteria in McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Subway and Pret A Manger. We went to a branch of each in five cities across the UK. We swabbed the tables, trays, and handles of the trays. And every time we saw a cloth just lying around in a restaurant we took that for testing, too.
Initially, the results from the lab looked encouraging. The tests from the restaurant surfaces we swabbed came back either clean or within acceptable limits. The cloths were a different story.
We tested cloths from three McDonald’s restaurants. One had no bacteria. Another had a bit more - although within normal levels. But a cloth we found at a McDonald’s in London had much higher levels of bacteria - in fact, 42 times what experts consider acceptable.
That isn’t the worst of it. At a KFC in Birmingham we found a cloth on top of a bin next to trays. And on that one we found E. coli. E. coli is a particularly nasty bacteria that can be found in raw meat and faecal matter. In a restaurant, you wouldn’t expect to find an E. coli count of more than ten. But on this KFC cloth it was more than 30,000.
Environmental health practitioner Dr Lisa Ackerley says: “This is in the premiership of dirty cloths. They may as well be wiping the table with a toilet brush. In fact, I've tested toilet seats and toilet lids and found much cleaner results.” We went back to the same branch of KFC to see how staff were using the cloths. Although we saw staff wiping lots of tables, we didn’t see any of them use the sanitising spray they should have been using. So we sent two more of those KFC cloths to the lab. They had higher levels of bacteria, including E. coli and Staphylococcus, which indicates this practice isn't just a one-off.
Dr Acklerley has told us: “The Staphylococcus on the cloths could have come from a member of staff picking their nose or coughing onto the cloth. Or it could have come from a customer who'd just done something disgusting on a table - it might be just sneezing all over it, and then it's been wiped over by a cloth.” KFC has 720 branches in the UK. And some have been slammed for poor hygiene before. One cloth with E. coli could mean anything. Three is harder to explain. The bacteria we found in all the places we tested isn’t enough to make you seriously ill. But it does make you wonder if all the restaurants in all the big-name chains are as clean as they should be.
KFC’s response to our report
KFC says that any breach of its strict hygiene standards is unacceptable, and as a result of our report it has taken immediate action with this restaurant.
Burger King’s response to our report
“Burger King would like to thank Watchdog for bringing this matter to our attention. We would like to assure customers that the level of bacteria quoted in the research is not deemed unsafe. However, we have followed up with the restaurant in question to reinforce cleanliness procedures. We have rigorous scoring and evaluation hygiene systems in place, but in light of the results from the report we will be encouraging all restaurants across the UK estate to maintain even higher standards of cleanliness across the business.”
McDonald’s’ response to our report
“We have thorough procedures and staff training for the use of cloths. The cloths used to wipe trays and tables are soaked in a sanitizer solution before use, and are used for a maximum of 30 minutes before being taken out of use for thorough laundering and soaking. The cloths are used in combination with a spray surface sanitizer, and all restaurants have a plentiful supply of clean, sanitised cloths.”
Using some chemical cotton wool buds and cool bags, we tested for bacteria in McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Subway and Pret A Manger. We went to a branch of each in five cities across the UK. We swabbed the tables, trays, and handles of the trays. And every time we saw a cloth just lying around in a restaurant we took that for testing, too.
Initially, the results from the lab looked encouraging. The tests from the restaurant surfaces we swabbed came back either clean or within acceptable limits. The cloths were a different story.
We tested cloths from three McDonald’s restaurants. One had no bacteria. Another had a bit more - although within normal levels. But a cloth we found at a McDonald’s in London had much higher levels of bacteria - in fact, 42 times what experts consider acceptable.
That isn’t the worst of it. At a KFC in Birmingham we found a cloth on top of a bin next to trays. And on that one we found E. coli. E. coli is a particularly nasty bacteria that can be found in raw meat and faecal matter. In a restaurant, you wouldn’t expect to find an E. coli count of more than ten. But on this KFC cloth it was more than 30,000.
Environmental health practitioner Dr Lisa Ackerley says: “This is in the premiership of dirty cloths. They may as well be wiping the table with a toilet brush. In fact, I've tested toilet seats and toilet lids and found much cleaner results.” We went back to the same branch of KFC to see how staff were using the cloths. Although we saw staff wiping lots of tables, we didn’t see any of them use the sanitising spray they should have been using. So we sent two more of those KFC cloths to the lab. They had higher levels of bacteria, including E. coli and Staphylococcus, which indicates this practice isn't just a one-off.
Dr Acklerley has told us: “The Staphylococcus on the cloths could have come from a member of staff picking their nose or coughing onto the cloth. Or it could have come from a customer who'd just done something disgusting on a table - it might be just sneezing all over it, and then it's been wiped over by a cloth.” KFC has 720 branches in the UK. And some have been slammed for poor hygiene before. One cloth with E. coli could mean anything. Three is harder to explain. The bacteria we found in all the places we tested isn’t enough to make you seriously ill. But it does make you wonder if all the restaurants in all the big-name chains are as clean as they should be.
KFC’s response to our report
KFC says that any breach of its strict hygiene standards is unacceptable, and as a result of our report it has taken immediate action with this restaurant.
Burger King’s response to our report
“Burger King would like to thank Watchdog for bringing this matter to our attention. We would like to assure customers that the level of bacteria quoted in the research is not deemed unsafe. However, we have followed up with the restaurant in question to reinforce cleanliness procedures. We have rigorous scoring and evaluation hygiene systems in place, but in light of the results from the report we will be encouraging all restaurants across the UK estate to maintain even higher standards of cleanliness across the business.”
McDonald’s’ response to our report
“We have thorough procedures and staff training for the use of cloths. The cloths used to wipe trays and tables are soaked in a sanitizer solution before use, and are used for a maximum of 30 minutes before being taken out of use for thorough laundering and soaking. The cloths are used in combination with a spray surface sanitizer, and all restaurants have a plentiful supply of clean, sanitised cloths.”
