Questions answered

There are 4 questions about “Food hygiene” in the “What are you doing about...” topic.

Click on a question to read our answer.

1. What should happen if the hot water for cleaning the equipment at the sinks fails and the equipment can not be properly cleaned and the water system can not be fixed until a later date?
Thank you for your question. Should such a situation arise, McDonalds have a number of emergency procedures, which would be adopted in the case of a temporary loss of hot water. These procedures would entail the use of portable hot water boilers and portable hand-wash units. If hot water were not available for an extended period of time the restaurant would usually close.

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2. How can it be that employees are not allowed beards when there are no hygiene issues with beards, providing the person has good personal hygiene? Especially when managers disobey simple hygiene rules, such as wearing hats and/or aprons when working with food! It is also odd that McDonald's health and safety bans beards which are not a hygiene threat as I have mentioned but do not supply employees with steel caped shoes which is a massive safety issue.
Thank you for your question. Our appearance policy is based on hygiene requirements, but also takes into account the appearance we present to our customers. Short, neat, clean beards are permitted on genuine religious, cultural or medical reasons. Any beards which cannot be trimmed for any of the above reasons must be neatly secured and covered with a beard net. It is also McDonald’s policy that all Managers wear hats and aprons if they are working as food handlers. If you know of any instance where this is not the case then please get in touch with the Customer services team on 08705 244622, who will investigate further. With regard to health & safety, McDonald's has completed comprehensive risk assessments to identify the significant risks to our employees and we supply protective equipment for employees where necessary. Crush injuries to feet are not a significant risk for our employees, thus there is no need or requirement to supply employees with steel toe-capped shoes. (Jan 2009)

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3. A documentary recently aired about bugs living in the corners and such things of trays, similar to the ones used in McDonalds. I am curious to know what lengths you go to, to ensure that such bacterial bugs do not stay, live, and reproduce on the trays, contaminating the food. I often find members of staff using a KAY branded RED labelled spray. My questions are: a. how do you deal with the bacteria and the trays, and b. what the spray does, and does it contain ONLY anti-bacterial chemicals.
Thank you for your thoughtful question. Firstly we would like to point out that maintaining hygiene and cleanliness in McDonald’s restaurants is a top priority. Customer trays are sanitised and wiped after every use throughout the day using the Kay Surface Sanitiser product, which you have mentioned. Once a day, at the end of business, the trays are then washed using a 4-step cleaning process. This process comprises of a thorough hot soapy scrub, rinse, sanitise and air-dry. Kay Surface Sanitiser is a quaternary-based hard surface sanitiser, which reduces bacteria at least 99.999%. The active ingredient meets EN1276 requirements for surface disinfection, but in addition the sanitiser also contains a surfactant for cleaning and a chelating agent to aid performance in hard water conditions. (Jan 2009)

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4. I've worked at McDonalds for about a year and a half now and recently I decided to let my facial hair grow instead of shaving daily. I grew sideburns which extended down to a beard on my chin. None of the facial hair ever exceeded 1mm in length. I was told by the Head Manager that I had to shave it off. It was always clean, and shaved along the edge to look clean. Isn't this discriminating against the way I wanted to look? And do they have the right to make me shave? Thanks!
Thank you for your question. In order to comply with Food Safety regulations, the rules regarding facial hair are as follows: No facial hair except for a neatly trimmed moustache is permitted. If an employee is unable to shave off their beard for religious reasons then they will be required to wear a beard snood ( a hairnet for the beard). (Dec 2008)

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