Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog on June 30, 2026
Do you love going out to eat? I know that I go through spells that cooking at home isn’t really all that appealing, but often we head out to eat and get restaurant disappointment or realize we could have prepared the food at home much cheaper.
Today we look at 13 things servers won’t eat at restaurants and why.
Yes, you read that correctly. Ice cubes are something that we wouldn’t think of being unsafe, but the machines used to make them rarely get cleaned. They can be breeding grounds for bacteria and in some situations they can even be the home of cockroaches. Mold & slime inside can produce quickly making these machines pretty gross. Servers say drinking the room temperature or out of the tap water might be the way to go.
Who would have guessed a lemon could be dangerous? At home we would wash and make sure our lemons were clean before slicing them. Does that happen at restaurants? Many restaurants cut enough to last the entire ay and they just sit and simmer in their own bacteria. A big no no.
We love them, but often restaurant style potatoes be it baked, mashed or fried contain so much fat and sodium making them not the healthiest option. They are usually plentiful because of cost.
This one creeped me out the most. Servers confessed that some restaurants reuse these by taking them off of one plate and putting them right back onto another. Plate garnishing are something that is rarely consumed and just pushed to the side and apparently that is a signal to the chef to just add them to the next plate.
Have you ever wondered how many people have had the bread basket before you? I have thought about that, but not the actual bread. With low carb dieting still on the rise many people pass on the bread or just have a piece of two between their whole table. Did you ever think that the bread was given to the next table of diners? Makes me not want to share the bread anymore.
A favorite on kids menus, macaroni and cheese is definitely something that kids flock to but did you know that it is often the exact same thing that you get at home? Many restaurants just make the Kraft brand and throw it in a bowl often charging over 100% more than the cost of the entire box per serving.
A server confessed that her restaurant offered hand tossed salads, but that was extremely literal. Their version of hand tossed was just that. Without gloves. She even saw the chef lick her fingers and run her hands through her hair. No thank you.
Yes, we looked at potatoes earlier, but fries are something to keep an eye on also and a huge pass for many servers. They note that the oil is disgusting, the fries sit under heating lamps for ages, and the oil sits until it has developed an almost rancid odor before being addressed.
Unfortunately, there are times that sauces are used to cover up kitchen nightmares. Customers discovered in one restaurant that they had actually consumed some raw chicken before realizing that it had been flooded with crust and sauce. Not worth the risk in my opinion.
There are certain foods that I believe people just have a notion for from time to time and apparently clam chowder is one of them. This one tends to sit in the warming containers for sometimes days on end waiting for someone to order a bowl not knowing they could be eating soup that had been just sitting in a warming tray for upwards of a week.
Often when restaurants order meat it comes frozen. Sometimes this is taken out of the freezer and sits for long periods of time before being put back into the freezer. This not only isn’t safe but this leads to freezer burn which does not taste great.
Many servers refuse to eat the pasta because they want more bang for their buck, as does the consumer. Pasta is one of the cheapest things to make and you can make a lot for a little money. This leads to often being an item that sits for awhile and can become tacky in texture and leaves a lot to be desired. Servers say pick something else.
While these are just lessons from a few servers and in no way means every restaurant is like this it is best to always check out the restaurant reports in your area and know what you are getting into before heading out to eat, especially when trying something new.
Be sure to keep an eye on Make Food Safe as we provide information daily on food safety, trends and other fun food articles.