April 8, 2015

The 10 Grossest Foods You Can Buy at the Ballpark

Buy me some peanuts and…pulled-pork parfait?

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2071871/stock-photo-hot-dog-bread-with-a-sausage-and-sauce.html?src=Cjo8J6W9EQcMfsrtvOpW1A-2-32">Vinicius Tupinamba</a>/Shutterstock

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Five months ago, Jon Costa, a food safety manager for Aramark, told ESPN and local media outlets about the dire conditions in the kitchens at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium (home to baseball’s Royals) and Arrowhead Stadium (home to football’s Chiefs). He discovered roaches in the vending area, mouse feces near pizza dough, mold growth in ice machines, and employees eating where food was supposed to be prepared.

KSHB reported that the Kansas City Health Department found critical violations at 20 of Kauffman’s concession stands last November, after Costa came forward following the Royals’ World Series loss. In a letter to ESPN that month, an Aramark official refuted Costa’s allegations, which included expired pizza dough being served during Game 7 of the World Series, as “unsubstantiated claims raised by a disgruntled employee.” Still, Aramark enlisted an external inspector to conduct additional sweeps of concessions and increased training for its staff. (Costa, meanwhile, was fired in March.)

Of course, even the stadium food without bacteria might make you sick—especially those over-the-top pseudo-regional specialties (e.g., pulled pork mac ‘n’ jack sausage) that are often loaded with saturated fat and sugar.

It’s not just Kansas City: A 2010 investigation by ESPN’s Outside the Lines found that, in nearly 30 percent of MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL stadiums and arenas, more than half of the food venues had received citations for a “critical” or “major” health violation. And in the last two years, Arizona State University’s Cronkite News Service reported that health inspectors in Maricopa County, Arizona, discovered “at least one food-safety violation within eight of the nine ballparks that host Cactus League spring training games,” including finding a dead rodent with feces in a vendor’s kitchen at Scottsdale Stadium.

Of course, even the stadium food without bacteria might make you sick—especially those over-the-top pseudo-regional specialties (e.g., pulled pork mac ‘n’ jack sausage) that are often loaded with saturated fat and sugar. Now that baseball season is back in full swing, here are 10 of the most stomach-turning (or, depending on your tastes, delectable) dishes on ballpark menus this year:

Brunch Burger, PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)

Totally Rossome Boomstick, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (Texas Rangers)

 Southwest Pork Mac & Cheese Waffle, Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers)

 Chicken Fried Bacon on a Stick, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (Rangers)

 Custard Donut Sandwich, Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers)

Rocky Mountain Oysters, Coors Field (Colorado Rockies)

Fried Nachos on a Stick, Miller Park (Brewers)

Churro Dog, Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Pulled-Pork Parfait, Miller Park (Brewers)

Triple-Triple Wayback Burger, Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies)

And if you want a beer to wash down that grossness, it’ll cost you.

Courtesy Business Insider

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This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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