McDonalds Poisonous Playgrounds

Today I happened upon a report about McDonalds playgrounds that truly horrified me. I can't say how widespread the problem is, and maybe not all McDonalds or other fastfood joints as as bad as the ones reported, but someone needs to DO something about the issues below:

Dr. Erin Carr-Jordan, banned from entering the McDonald’s franchise near her home, details her horrific discoveries while visiting the insides of a random sampling of the nation’s indoor playgrounds located in McDonald’s, Burger King and other retail fast-food outlets, who use the playgrounds to attract children ages 2 – 12.

She explains why she started Kids Play Safe to conduct a nationwide survey and details the challenges she confronts in trying to gain legislative support to include the playgrounds on the nation’s health inspectors’ watch lists.

What started out as an innocent restroom stop at the local McDonald’s for an Arizona mother-of-four has turned into a national quest to expose the seamy side of those ubiquitous indoor playgrounds scattered across America. And what was uncovered by Dr. Erin Carr-Jordan while crawling through that PlayPlace of the world’s largest hamburger chain would haunt most parents.

Viewed as safe and fun places for kids to play while they have a burger or a pizza, millions of parents in the U.S. get a break from their toddlers as they crawl through brightly colored plastic tunnels, peer through cool-looking see-through plastic bubble windows, and traverse rope netting. The issue here for parents is not the view of the playground from the outside, but what’s lurking inside.

Small in height and stature, Carr-Jordan was able to get a kids-eye-view of the play area, as she wound through the tunnels with her children. She zeroed in on three separate issues that disturbed her: the filth, which included human feces, the disrepair, capable of causing physical injury and the graffiti, which ran the gamut from your standard expletives to violent gang markings and phrases, known as “gang slang.” Before leaving the restaurant, she felt compelled to apprise the manager and expected swift action.

FULL STORY

I urge everyone to do their own investigations and if you discover similar issues on your local area, that you join and post on Dr Erin's FB site, as well as learn what you can do: Kids Play Safe

i mean...their food is poisoning the world...why not throw some needles, diseases and plutonium in the ball pit?

i would never take my kid to mcdonalds anyways...i would want him to eat healthy food..and real food.

That is sick,if you did bacteria swabs in McDonalds around the kitchen and tables i bet ther would be more bacteria than that you would find on a dirty toilet seat

Oh it's widespread... Every 6 months or so I read something. Fecal matter, vomit, e.coli, etc. They have found needles and all sorts of lovely things in the playgrounds. And it's not just McDonalds. I wish every restaurant would do away with those things. I never let my kids play in them and I feel bad when they ask. And other people think I'm nuts by not letting my kids play in those.
GROSS!!!!!

The kitchens are clean. The toy playgrounds are not. The "Pod Chambers" don't need same health department requirements or are not inspected as tough.
I went through those bubbbles ONCE with my kids, and that was the last time they ever went through them again. There are pockets of bacteria that build up in the joint sections of the connections.

It's like they grow their own potatoes in those things. Nasty.

Good Post. The problem should be addressed and corrected.

Don't take them out of fast food joints.

How else are we going to reduce the population?

reply to post by ICEKOHLD


Totally agree, and how bad is when you can't even point out the obvious dangers in a public place, without being served with ban notices?

Imagine if you were walking along the road and saw a school bus full of children drive bye, and noticed there was only two wheel nuts holding a wobbly tyre on. You'd see the school name on the side of the bus, and immediately contact the school to WARN them, right? Imagine a week later seeing the same bus pass again and still with only two nuts holding the loose wheel on; contacting the school again being advised to keep your nose out of school business or they'll sic their lawyers onto your nosey ass!

It sure is a crazy world we live in.

Gross! These play areas should be kept outdoors in a caged area where they can at least get rained on. I can't even imagine how few times these areas get a good scrub when they should be hosed down with a bleach and water mixture daily.

This sure does say alot about society and the kids we sprout. , and the type of kids that play in there lol

Graffiti ? needles ? lol come on now , feces , vomit damn. What a disgusting pit to allow children in lol..




But also says alot to mcdonalds management on failure to keep it clean and sanitary .

A friend pf mine told me of a certain fast food chain that makes your sandwiches in front of you, that when he was ordering a mouse ran across the counter and the employees just looked at it and went on with their business like it was normal. Didn't even wash the counter. Needless to say, he left without a sandwich.

It's scary eating anywhere but home these days.

Originally posted by yourboycal2
This sure does say alot about society and the kids we sprout. , and the type of kids that play in there lol

Graffiti ? needles ? lol come on now , feces , vomit damn. What a disgusting pit to allow children in lol..

But also says alot to mcdonalds management on failure to keep it clean and sanitary .

Yeah the needles see a bit hard to swallow...er

Maybe McDonalds STAFF like to play in these areas after closing time, or rent out to local gangs???

Clearly a perfect example of how corporations use the most cost efficent methods in a place of business even when it is at the expense of the customer. If they can't keep the play area safe and clean they shouldn't keep it availible for kids to get illnesses or injuries.

There is no care for the health of children in this country at all. Even places like that... ,making millions of dollars but can't be bothered with sanitation of the things a child plays on.

I quit taking my kids to McDonald's to play or eat about 2 years ago. When I think back to when I was a kid and my mom taking me to play in the ball pit, I think she must have lost her mind. I had strep so many times it damaged my heart.....nasty places for sure. Old fashioned outside play grounds at least have the natural disinfecting power of the sun and a rain fall here and there to keep them decent.

I am all for letting my kids growing an immune system but still, those play places are beyond NASTY!

I wanted to add that I though the ball pits had been banned for years now...maybe not in all states? In mine they have been for about 10 years.

I knew the food was poisonous but the playgrounds too? Kids don't really go number 2 in them do they? Exaggeration me thinks.

Originally posted by ICEKOHLD
i mean...their food is poisoning the world...why not throw some needles, diseases and plutonium in the ball pit?

i would never take my kid to mcdonalds anyways...i would want him to eat healthy food..and real food.

this is very old news. one report i read years ago found poisonous snakes in a ball pit. insanity..

Originally posted by LonelyGuy
I knew the food was poisonous but the playgrounds too? Kids don't really go number 2 in them do they? Exaggeration me thinks.

Human feces is spread by people and kids not washing their hands after they wipe their butts.
Think about that next time to grab a cart at wally world....it might have poop on it.

Plus nappies come loose, stuff falls out...enuff said

Originally posted by lilowl53

Originally posted by LonelyGuy
I knew the food was poisonous but the playgrounds too? Kids don't really go number 2 in them do they? Exaggeration me thinks.

Human feces is spread by people and kids not washing their hands after they wipe their butts.
Think about that next time to grab a cart at wally world....it might have poop on it.

edit on 3-1-2012 by lilowl53 because: there/their...whatever

might?

not gonna lie here, the changes that there are feces (or worse) on just about any cart is VERY high, they NEVER clean those baskets off. never EVER put your child in one of those little kiddie cart things either. might as well toss your child in a cesspool.

Yet another great reason not to take your kids to eat at such places.

Yet, at the same time, you can find E.Coli just about everywhere. Test any surface, anywhere and you will be surprised just what you find.

I even remember a thread on here not that long ago with a scientific study that 1 in 6 cell phones have human poo on them.

As bad as it sounds, it is true, scrub as much as you want, but your house is just as full of germs as these play grounds.

Germs are everywhere and that is the reason she is finding them at every McDonalds she visits. Go test the swing set in your backyard. See what you find. It wont be much cleaner.

Tests have been done showing that even your shoes are disgusting. They showed that they tend to have more bacteria than even a toilet seat. Toilet seats tend to have bacteria numbering in the thousands. Shoes tend to house millions of different types of bacteria

abcnews.go.com...

Germs are everywhere. You cannot get away from them.

McDonalds is no exception. So that is not my reason for steering clear of McDonalds. My reason is the disgusting chemicals they pump into their foods

That is my view anyway. Do with it as you will.

On-the-other-hand-,exposure-to-germs-and-bacteria-will-help-build-immunity
and-could-possibly-help-deal-with-accidental-ingestion-of-the-burgers

reply to post by Question Fate


Yes, Very old news. But I think its important to bring things like this up once in while. While the parents of children brought up in the nineties knew it. But there's so many new parents out there in this generation. And believe me they need all the help they can get. I work in a school, and I see the stupidity of parents every day. This generation of kids that are now parents have no sense of "Common Sense".

My boys are in college now, back when they were toddlers, they never stepped foot in many of the fun play places all there friends were playing in. Yea they didn't like it and I was the bad guy. But my kids were ones of the few who could say they had perfect attendance at school. As they got older and could understand they accepted it and realized the places they got to play at were much more fun anyway. They got to be around snakes and bugs and dirt, but it was out in nature.