Fort Meade Army Base Shuts AAFES Burger King Due to Uncleanliness and Maggots

Fort Meade Official Facebook ^ | 2/6/2013 | Nathan Kerr

[nckerr]

BACKGROUND: Several complaints went viral over the past month when employees reported to the Command that AAFES was not cleaning and inspecting its soda machines properly leading to an infestation of maggots. Finally, some employees took pictures and posted. This prompted the Command to do an impromptu inspection and shut the doors. Here is their official statement earlier in the day:

"Regarding the recent post about the AAFES Burger King: I met with AAFES Manager Jonathan Bright this morning. Mr. Bright assured me the area has been cleaned and that Veterinarian Services inspected and cleared the facility. Additionally, Command Sgt. Major Latter and I will be going over to the Burger King this week. AAFES has been, and will continue to be, a great partner, and I have every confidence that they take your safety as seriously as I do. Also, I want to remind everybody about my open door policy every Monday from 4 to 6 p.m.

VR COL Edward C. Rothstein."

Later, apparently, the Commander decided to inspect the AAFES BK and this was the next official statement:

"Following an inspection today by myself, Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Ladder, Public Health Command and Veterinary Services, I have ordered the closing of the AAFES Burger King, located at 2794 Rose Street.

The decision to close the facility was made so that it can be thoroughly cleaned and re-inspected. The Installation and AAFES are working closely together to ensure that the dining facility is re-opened as quickly as possible.

As always, the health and safety of the Fort Meade community is a top priority.

V/R COL Edward C. Rothstein"

This is unacceptable. Not only is AAFES well known for it s horrible customer service, but this is beyond the pale.

[higgmeister]

It’s gotta be bad if you have to call in a veterinarian to inspect a restaurant......LOL!

Now is that nice?

The civilians out there don't know that Post or Base food inspection has always been done by Veterinary Services.

[Rebelbase]

"But they're royal maggots!"

[TexasTransplant]

jrandomfreeper needs to weigh in on this ... I predict an awesome dress down

TT

[American Constitutionalist]

I saw a restaurant where the 2 deep friers had at least 1/4 to one inch of caked grease all over the inside and out.
Mold was on the walls it looked like the kitchen was not cleaned in years.
ohh yeah ? it was a Mexican restaurant in the US.

[GeronL]

there was a restaurant where a place right on the water, with folks ice fishing 100 feet away selling frozen food and FAKE crab.

I saw one show where a place was getting burgers wrong, seriously... how can you get burgers wrong?

[vetvetdoug]

FWIW, the USAF Veterinary service caught the US Army veterinarians and technicians taking bribes in 1974 from food suppliers that were providing substandard and unwholesome food. There was a Senate investigation (1975) that resulted in around 90 Army members and DPSC personnel being sent to Ft. Leavenworth. The Army lobbied to have the USAF Veterinarians removed and with political influence Jimmy Carter signed the death warrant of the USAF Veterinary Services in 1978 which was completed in 1982. Now the jobs of the USAF Veterinary Corps has to have up to three officers taking the job of what was once one veterinarians’responsibility. Army Veterinarians are now stationed at USAF bases providing the animal care which was just one of the responsibilities the USAF veterinarian accomplished efficiently. Enlisted it took three Army MOS’ (91R,91S,91T) to do the job of one USAF 908XO because the USAF veterinary enlisted were selected from those that scored high on the AFQT tests.

[Future Snake Eater]

Ha! A lady I work with just ate there last night. I can’t wait to tell her!

[JRandomFreeper]

I thought about it when I first saw it posted. And my red hair took over along with an NCO vocabulary. What I said was: "[REDACTED]".

Someone wasn't doing daily inspections on base. And they need to be [REDACTED] until their eyes bleed.

I'm an easygoing kind of guy, and I don't mind having to occasionally pry kitchen staff off of waitstaff in the linen closet with a crowbar (NOT ON THE CLEAN LINEN, DAMMIT), but food safety is very, very important.

Given that I wish to remain a Freeper, I think it's best to not actually say what I think in detail.

/johnny

[TexasTransplant]

Used to own a Restaurant... competitor called the Inspectors on us... figured out who they were, returned the favor ... we still had our “A” they were closed for a month and even then ended up with a “B”

TT

PS Don’t eat at a “B”

[JRandomFreeper]

if you have to call in a veterinarian to inspect a restaurant.

That's standard practice for Army. In the AF, it's Flight Surgeon's office, in the Navy, it's usually a Medic who happens to be a Chief. Although on a JTF assignment, a Navy Captain (MD) did the inspection once, as I recall, with a Chief telling her where to find gotcha's.

/johnny

[TexasTransplant]

Love ya Johnny

TT

(We want to keep ya Freeper too)

[American Constitutionalist]

I remember many years ago my dad and I were up in New York city where we were at a restaurant that both of us once ate at.
I was wondering why we were not going there that day and he told me we won't be eating there any more because the last time he went there he discovered some extra protein that crawled out of his dish while eating it.
Yes, a roach crawled out of his dish while eating it.
It was a Chinese Restaurant near Penn Station.
That's exactly how he put it, extra protein.

[Bob]

That's exactly how he put it, extra protein.

Not only extra protein, but fresh and crunchy extra protein. :=)

[higgmeister]

I remember being stationed at a base so remote that we had to drive 3 hours to get to another base with a Burger King. It was like going to civilization, maggots and all.

I was stationed on Terceira Island in the Azores archipelago for two years where there was no fast food of any kind and one evening the Portuguese chef at the NCO club put cinnamon on a pizza.

I have to say though, the local cuisine was much better than fast food.

[piroque]

There’s a Zaxby’s in Montgomery , Al. , that just went to court over severing a mouse in the green salad. A u-tube video out about the same restaurant , with a Cockroach crawling around the salad.

[American Constitutionalist]

And some hotsauce to help it go down.

[Mastador1]

I am not knocking Mexicans here, but one of the biggest problems I had as the balance of my employees shifted over time was getting my Hispanic employees to throw away food that fell on the floor. It was not because they were dirty or didn’t care, but because they had so little that they personally could not afford to waste food! I don’t think neglect or poor hygiene has a lock on any nationality, they are equal opportunity traits.

[MIchaelTArchangel]

Flash: The Maggots were employees of the Defense Information Systems Agency.

[Secret Agent Man]

it’s like a little moving almond. yeah, that’s what it is....

[American Constitutionalist]

Well, there goes my appetite for this evening.