6 Unbelievably Disgusting Kitchen Stories1

By Joy Williams, Nov 02, 2011 in Offbeat, Pop Culture

The food industry has a notoriously bad reputation for allowing “unsavory” elements into our food. Their abuses have been so outrageous that they’ve been chronicled in many fictionalized stories. From Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle to gross-out comedy Waiting to the true-to-life series Forty Weight, the inner workings of the food industry have been displayed, exaggerated, and spotlighted for both our entertainment and our education.

If you think the claim of spit in your hamburger, human body parts in your ground beef, or insects in your salad are just works of fiction, you need to read about these true accounts of uninvited guests in our food.

Forty Weight – The Interview

McDonald’s gets a head

It’s unlikely that this story will ever go away. Here’s the breakdown: Mom takes her kids to McDonald’s and orders two Happy Meals plus a burger and fries. When her 6-year-old shows no interest in his McNuggets, Mom decides to dig in … only to have her 8-year-old alert her that she is about to bite into a chicken’s head. Being comped for all the food and a couple of weeks’ worth of free meals wasn’t enough to make up for the trauma. Mom sued to the tune of $100,000.

Kohl’s Custard gives customer the finger

A customer spooning into a pint of Kohl’s frozen custard got more than a mouthful when he ended up with a mouthful of human. In a matter of seconds, a 23-year-old employee lost a finger while operating a dispensing machine, a drive-through attendant (who was unaware of what had just happened) scooped the custard (and finger) into a container.

Domino’s delivers

When a Domino’s employee thought it would be fun to put cheese in his nose and mucus on sandwiches while prepping food for delivery, one of his colleagues decided it would be even more fun to not only film the activities but also post them on YouTube. A million views later (plus claims that they never served the food), the restaurant was shut down, and the two employees were fired and arrested.

Kentucky Fried Chicken cleans up

Three brilliant teenage employees at a KFC locked up and dove in — into a kitchen basin. The photos of the bikini babes were posted on MySpace. All three were fired.

Kentucky Fried Chicken goes live

A customer ordered sandwiches to go and received an extra helping of roaches – live roaches in their sandwiches and napkins. Health inspectors called to the scene did find dead roaches in the KFC but chose not to close it down. The franchise passed the inspection, brought in an exterminator, and went on with business as usual – whatever that means.

Starbucks gets a hand

Although this account does not occur in the kitchen of a Starbucks, it’s disgusting enough (and still on the premises) to require some attention. A New York man who calls himself Mr.PeePee is making it his goal to masturbate in every NYC Starbucks bathroom. He is rating each facility on a “Boner” scale for cleanliness, interruptions while in progress, quality of location coffee, and number of “hot chicks” on the Starbucks premises. He has a twitter feed and foursquare profile that chronicle his “adventures.”

Forty Weight – The First Day

Forty Weight – The Staff Meeting

Watch more episodes of food industry comedy FORTY WEIGHT

Joy Williams is a freelance writer and interviewer who works in the entertainment industry. She holds a degree in English from an East Coast university.