1 Cleveland McDonald’s plagued with health violations

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - You won’t love this.

Editor’s note: This story was updated Dec. 17 to share recently attained statements from the city of Cleveland and the owner of the franchise. View those at the end of the story.

According to the Cleveland Department of Public Health, the McDonald’s—located at 8210 Euclid Ave., near the Cleveland Clinic—has been inspected at least eight times since Sept. 25.

The report states the restaurant has been voluntarily shut down at least twice, including a three-day shutdown to trap and clean up a rodent infestation.

A viewer sent Cleveland 19 video and pictures of the excessively unclean conditions.

It was taken at the McDonald’s on Euclid Avenue near East 83rd Street.

Melissa Hunt and Dana Burger say they stopped to eat at the restaurant Friday, but decided against it after just using the bathrooms.

“No cause it was disgusting,” Hunt said.

Burger said, “There’s just pee everywhere. And there’s trash.”

According to records, an inspector has been to the location eight times in the last three months, but the Department of Public Health allowed the restaurant to reopen, despite a series of critical violations.

One of those inspections took place on Friday.

The inspector witnessed the pest problem, but gave the business until next week to fix it.

Some of the critical violations from the past three months include, per reports:

Dec. 6: Presence of live insects, rodents and other pests. Observed mice droppings by soda machine and ice cream machine.
Oct. 31: Equipment, food and contact surfaces or utensils are unclean. Clean all food contact surfaces due to possible rodent traffic.
Oct. 31: Presence of live insects, rodents and other pests. Observed mice feces behind soda machine, in the lobby, the men’s restroom and on storage racks. Styrofoam material seen in spots throughout operation provide evidence of possible nesting.
Sept. 26: Presence of live insects, rodents and other pests. Observed rodents have eaten though McMuffin breading. Exterminate pest immediately.

The documents show the business has also voluntarily shut down after past inspections to clean up.

The manager told Cleveland 19 Friday that the pest control company collected at least 40 mice recently.

She said that’s why there are still traps set up outside.

We asked her, why is the restaurant back open, if the problem persists?

She said, “Because it wasn’t as bad.”

We’ve asked the city why the restaurant is allowed to stay open even with the violations found Friday, but so far we have not received a response.

On Monday, the restaurant was closed again and this statement was shared with Cleveland 19:

"Our number one priority is always the health and safety of our customers and employees. My organization is taking this situation very seriously, including action to ensure that this doesn’t happen again as well as working with a third party pest control vendor to address the issue at hand immediately.”

The following is a statement from the city of Cleveland on Dec. 17:

Following an Oct. 31 complaint made to the Cleveland Department of Public Health (CDPH) about rodent droppings, CDPH conducted an inspection of the facility.

Here's a synopsis of what has occurred since:

* The owner agreed to voluntarily close while violations were remediated.

* CDPH gave the restaurant owner necessary next steps to bring it back up to code. The owner told CDPH that its exterminator had increased treatments to address the rodent issue.

* The restaurant was re-inspected and significant progress was noted on Nov 2. Because of the improvement, the owner was able to reopen the facility.

* On Dec. 6, CDPH received another rodent complaint about this restaurant. CDPH investigated and again noticed evidence of rodent activity. The owner was given 10 days, until Dec. 17, to address the issue or face involuntary closure.

* On Dec. 14, CDPH received a complaint about the outside of the restaurant building. While at the site, CDPH inspected the interior to monitor remediation progress and noticed evidence of rodent activity.

* The owner was given a compliance date that matched the previous compliance date of Dec. 17.

* CDPH attempted to re-investigate on Dec. 17 but the building was closed due to an unrelated police matter. CDPH will return for re-inspection by Dec. 18.

If the restaurant has not remedied the issue, CDPH will take action to close the facility.

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