Posted: June 11th, 2012 - 11:44am
Source: WTSP

This week's Restaurant Red Alert focuses on one of America's favorite fast food restaurants.
In May, a customer at the McDonald's on Martin Luther King Blvd right off I-275 filed a complaint with the state saying a live roach fell out of the ceiling and into their food.
The complaint prompted a state inspection, and more problems for McDonald's. The inspector says upon his arrival, he was denied immediate access to the kitchen and told to "take a seat."
The inspector and his supervisors recommended an administrative complaint, and was eventually allowed access into the kitchen.
He documented 21 violations, including 7 considered critical.
Among the problems documented by the state were:
grease accumulating under the cooking equipment
Food and standing water on the floor
A toxic item near the utensils
Roaches: 25-30 dead roaches under the front service counter, and another 5 live roaches near the kitchen sink.
The inspector also documented the ceiling soiled with accumulated food debris, and substantiated the original consumer complaint of roaches in the restaurant.
McDonald's sent us this written statement saying:
"The safety and cleanliness of our McDonald's restaurants are of the utmost importance to us. We always comply and regularly exceed standards for health inspections. A recent health inspector's report referenced a situation that was the result of confusion between the inspector and McDonald's protocol. The restaurant staff followed procedure and received supervisor approval and the inspector was admitted to conduct his inspection. The findings were acted upon and the restaurant is in complete compliance with health regulations."
But on our visit we found numerous flying insects at the service counter, considered a critical violation, ketchup on a seat in the dining room and more food on the floor behind the counter.