McDonald’s Worker Picks Food Up From Floor and Puts It Back on Tray—‘This Is Disgraceful’

A video showing a McDonald’s employee picking food up from the floor and placing it back on a serving tray is going viral online. According to the video, the incident took place at the 32 Ave NE location. The video was originally uploaded as part of a Google review.

In the video, the worker picks up a food item that has fallen to the floor and places it on the serving tray. They then walk away, presumably to the front counter to serve the food to the customer.

The Video Sparks Debate Over Food Handling at Fast-Food Restaurants

One X commenter wrote "I was hospitalized with e-coli after eating a burger from A&W and I see videos like this every day. I don’t eat fast food in Canada anymore. Sure, it’s unhealthy, but it’s the food handling and hygiene standards of the employees that are posing serious risks for all."

"I was a waitress and bartender for 20 years. Good[sic] gets dropped. When you tell someone their food is being refired because it was dropped they are so grateful even if it takes 15 more minutes. This is f****** disgraceful," said another X commenter.

Some commenters also made comments about race that are not relevant to the food-safety discussion. Other commenters focused on employee training and whether workers were following proper food-handling procedures.

"Standard fast food maneuver," said another commenter, suggesting they viewed the incident as common.

Others focused on whether employees receive adequate food-service training, with one saying, "Training!!! Employees don’t care if they are saving the company money by putting it back on the tray. This is ignorance through lack of food service training."

However, as some other commenters have pointed out, people are probably unaware of just how much floor food that they have eaten of the years. Though this incident was caught on video, there are undoubtedly many others at many different restaurants all around the world that have not been caught on video.

The video also prompted some commenters to say they would avoid fast-food restaurants. That is, unfortunately, not always a feasible task, especially for busy families or families on a budget. Others questioned whether restaurants have adequate policies in place to prevent this type of incident.

"Under the 5-second rule or not, doing that right in front of customers—and on camera—is insane!" said one user.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify what happened to the food item after it was placed back on the tray. The incident is based on video footage originally shared alongside a Google review and reactions from commenters online.