The KFC double down sandwich may be all the rage among dieters and gluttons, but one outlet in London should pay more attention to food safety practices.

As a reminder, a U.K. court fined Kentucky Fried Chicken almost STG19,000 on Monday after a cockroach was found eating a chip in one of its busiest branches in Britain.

The insect was seen on a food dispensing counter near takeaway boxes and tongs used to serve chicken by an environmental health officer in a restaurant in London's West End.

City of Westminster Magistrates' Court heard that during an inspection at the Leicester Square branch, the officer also saw a mouse, flies and dried chicken blood on the floor.

The Westminster City Council inspector also said there was no hand wash in dispensers in the food preparation area.

There’s really nothing like high school cafeteria Jell-O – especially if that Jell-O mix has mouse poop in it or near it.

That’s exactly what was found as the kitchens at James Buchanan High School and Middle School in Pennsylvania failed the most recent health department inspections, with the state citing mouse droppings near food and other violations.

Both schools were cited for not having an adequate space for employees to wash their hands. Mouse droppings were found in both locations.

Justin Flemming, spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, said the droppings were a small amount in a contained area. In the report at the middle school it states open bags of Jell-O mix were "adulterated" by the droppings.

Tuscarora Business Manager Eric Holtzman said, however, that the mixes were in sealed bags that were contained in a box. Holtzman said the droppings were in the box but were not found in the bags of mix.

"Mice in the country are a problem," said Gertrude Giorgini, who operated the kitchen for Tuscarora for 23 years before retiring eight years ago.

Giorgini also questioned the district's decision hiring a food management company, rather than keep food services in house. She said that many management companies won't keep as close of an eye on food safety and cleanliness at a facility as people who are employed by the school district.

"You never want to be written up by the Board of Health," Giorgini said.
 

Here’s one from east-end Toronto that I missed last week but Coldmud picked up from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – hockey and state-sponsored jazz).

Amateur photographer Borys Machinkowski's photo (right, exactly as shown) shows a mouse popping out of a space between two trays of pastries sitting in the display case of Bakery On the Go at the Warden Toronto

Machinkowski. a 20-year-old Centennial College student, said in a blog post that he noticed the rodent while he and some friends were sitting in the coffee shop waiting for another friend to arrive.

Machinkowski said he pointed out the mouse to the employee working at the coffee shop, but the employee continued to sell food.

Machinkowski and his friends started telling customers about the mouse and showing them the photo they had taken.

"Being thoroughly disgusted, we decided to warn everyone who would listen that we just saw a mouse in plain sight and showed them the picture each time. They were grateful they hadn't eaten what they had bought yet."

Their warnings stopped after a man arrived, and he turned out to be the eatery's manager.

"Finally, another man came in and we continued our mission to warn people. We told him about the mouse and he said, 'Huh? This is subway station. You see mice sometime. So what?' in an irritated tone. Then we showed him the picture and his face froze. It turned out he was the manager and he promptly told us to get out, but we didn't until they turned off the lights and closed the store for fear they'd continue selling food to people."

During an inspection by Toronto Public Health on Aug. 27, the bakery was given a conditional pass. Inspectors cited it for failure to protect food from contamination and inadequate temperature controls.

Maybe it was the stadium food that somehow lifted the Indianapolis Colts to a stunning come-from-behind 35-34 victory over the New England Patriots in another chapter of the U.S. football rivalry of the decade, Peyton Manning (right) versus Tom Brady (below, left).
 
After being hammered by local health types, the folks who run the food concessions at Lucas Oil Stadium swooped into town and promised to set things straight. WISH went out to ask some tailgaters to see how confident were about buying food inside the stadium.

Tailgater Glen Vigar reacted to the news,"(It's) a little scary. I mean it's a brand new building. I wouldn't expect it."

Vigar said that he wouldn't eat the food there anymore.

Centerplate said it planned to have 15 of its own food safety inspectors inside the stadium Sunday to make sure conditions are clean.

24-Hour News 8 had asked to be inside the stadium to see how that was going, but a Centerplate spokesperson denied that request.