Food Safety Report Not Kind to Midwest NFL Stadiums
Greasy food and trash talk are all part of the experience on football Sunday, but the next time you're standing at the concession stand of one of these stadiums thinking about whether to order that hamburger or brat, the news from a new report may at least give you something to ponder.
Much like a restaurant, the stadium concession stands are subject to food safety inspections from time to time. According to Pickswise and its report on "critical food safety violations" at NFL stadiums, three of the most legendary ones got less-than-stellar reviews.
Lambeau is not so lovely when it comes to food safety
Among the biggest violators in this report is the gem known as Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Home to the Packers, it would be way too easy for me to poke fun at this report and say the "gross factor" is based on who plays there. But as you'll see in a moment, I as a Bears fan would have no right to do that. Pickswise gave Lambeau a 40.79 percent critical rating with 228 critical violations. What does that mean? It's a combination of "the number of critical violations, the total number of violations and percentage of critical violations per stadium".
Legendary stadium in Chicago is not so far behind
Soldier Field, home (for now) of my Chicago Bears didn't do well either. 47 total violations with 18 considered critical equal a percentage of 38.3. Kansas City's GEHA Field (Arrowhead?) was pretty nasty too as was Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
"We're #1!"?
At least we can hang our hats on the fact that the worst stadiums for critical food safety violations are located in the alleged meccas of healthiness, Denver's Empower Field (formerly Mile-High Stadium), and Seattle's Lumen Field.
Who is the best at food safety?
It's none other than M&T Bank Stadium, in Baltimore, home of the Ravens, which "only" had 13 critical violations. For the record, Ford Field in Detroit ranked just outside the Top 10, and for some reason, U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis wasn't mentioned. Find out where your team's facility ranked here.