McDonald's manager 'totally shocks' Aussies with unhygienic act in front of customers

A McDonald’s customer has been left “totally shocked” after witnessing a manager use a heat lamp designed for food to dry a mop head.

The alarming incident, first captured at the fast-food giant’s restaurant in Booval, Queensland, on April 4 has left Aussies completely stunned after it was posted to social media on Monday.

The woman who witnessed the scene told Yahoo News Australia that she had taken her son to lunch at the franchise when she watched the unsettling incident unfold. She described the employee as “drying the floor mop”, which had just been used to mop the floors, under the lamp that sits above the chips before they are distributed to customers.

"I was just standing waiting for my order when I looked over and heard a staff member say; 'I don’t think you should be doing that as it could be a safety issue as it can catch on fire'," the woman recalled to Yahoo.

"I would say [for] at least a minute they were getting fries for orders around her.

"I was totally shocked at what I witnessed and she just laughed it off," the woman said.

Watch the footage:

The woman told Yahoo that she didn't initially post the footage to social media, but after seeing more complaints about the store in question, she felt compelled to share it publicly. "Something needs to be done as if they are happy to do something like this in front of customers what exactly do they do behind the scenes?" she said.

Aussies were quick to express their disgust at the unusual drying move which risks contaminating the fries, with one calling it "the most brainless thing I've seen this year". Another said they felt the iconic chain's standards were "worse than ever".

McDonald's respond to shocking mop moment

A McDonald’s Australia spokesperson told Yahoo that it was an “isolated incident” and staff at the restaurant have undergone “re-training” on sanitisation, hygiene and food safety procedures.

“McDonald’s takes food safety extremely seriously and follows strict cleaning, sanitisation and hygiene procedures in all restaurants,” a McDonald’s spokesperson said.

“We have addressed this with the restaurant directly and conducted thorough re-training for all employees on McDonald’s sanitisation, hygiene and food safety procedures.

“This was an isolated incident, and we will continue to work with the restaurant to ensure this does not happen again.”

Another 'putrid' Maccas restaurant caught out by customers

The incident comes just days after McDonald's said it was "working with" another of its franchises after footage of a filthy restaurant stunned onlookers. The "putrid" scene showed rubbish strewn across the restaurant, food including beef patties left on the floor and bins overflowing with drink cartons, burger boxes and paper bags.

The footage was taken at the fast-food outlet in Cheltenham, Melbourne, this week while the restaurant was full of people. Jackie Zovas told Yahoo News Australia when she first walked in, the McDonald’s was “super busy” with “people everywhere, rubbish everywhere you looked and only about three staff working”.

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