McDonald's Canada has temporarily closed one of its restaurants in the city’s east end after video sent to CP24 appeared to show cockroaches crawling on the floor, the walls and some of the seats in the establishment.
The video was reportedly taken inside the restaurant near Victoria Park Avenue and Gerrard Street at around 2:45 p.m. on Thursday.
In a statement provided to CP24 on Friday afternoon, McDonald’s Canada said it has taken the step of temporarily closing the restaurant for a “thorough cleaning and pest control assessment” following a customer complaint. The statement went on to note that a pest control company did visit the restaurant for a routine inspection last week and “found no pest issues at that time.”
“Food safety and quality are a top priority for McDonald’s Canada and all of our restaurants are held to the highest industry standards,” the statement reads. “We take matters of this nature very seriously, and have very strict policies and procedures in place to ensure our guests receive the highest quality products whenever they visit our restaurants.”
McDonald’s customer Sheena Snow shot the video of the insects after she spotted them coming out of some holes on a bench seat while waiting for her food to be prepared on Thursday.
Snow told CP24 that she then approached a store manager and was told that the restaurant had been “dealing with these guys for weeks now ”and was given some coupons for free food to make up for the interrupted meal. She filed a formal complaint with McDonald's Canada upon returning home.
“They should have shut down yesterday when people were eating with cockroaches in the restaurant,” Snow told CP24 on Friday. “I am glad that they are shut down and I hope they take care of the situation but at the same time they continued to operate knowing that there were cockroaches running around.”
Toronto Public Health does not have any ongoing complaints concerning the restaurant; however an official for the agency did tell CP24 that staff will “conduct an investigation of the premise” given what is contained in the video.
The last known complaint against the McDonald’s was on May 12, according to Toronto Public Health. The nature of that complaint is not known.
In a subsequent statement issued on Friday night, McDonald’s said the restaurant was given a pass by city health inspectors on Friday afternoon.
“While (Toronto Public Health) is satisfied with all the actions taken, we have decided to take the additional precautionary step of further pest prevention measures overnight,” the release reads.
McDonald’s plans to reopen the location at 7 a.m. on Saturday.
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