Those were not extra sprinkles on doughnuts at one Dunkin' Donuts location in Clearwater last week.
It was dozens and dozens of ants, swarming inside the kitchen!
In a special Dirty Dining report, the I-Team uncovered over 200 live ants crawling near and on the food inside the Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin Robbins at 2451 North McMullen Booth Road.
On Wednesday August 9, inspectors discovered the live ants on the front counter, cook's line, drive thru area, at the syrup station, customer pick up counter, on the food prep table and directly on the doughnuts.
Inspectors also issued a stop sale on 90 doughnuts that had live ants crawling on top of them.
They had to throw out glazed, chocolate covered and jelly donuts contaminated with the ants.
Among the other 30-violations seen over two days?
There were several areas in the kitchen not cleaned properly with old food residue including in the walk-in cooler, on the front counters, on containers of sugar, on the shelves, oven, food prep area, walls, floors, cook's line, and walk-in freezer.
Milk was more than 24-hours old and not properly marked with a date so employees wouldn't know how old it is.
And the hand wash sink was not accessible for employees to use, hot water at the hand wash sink was not hot enough, and there were no paper towels.
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Dunkin' Donuts Statement:
"At Dunkin' Donuts, food safety is a top priority and nothing is more important to us than our franchisees operating clean and safe restaurants. We have stringent food safety and quality standards, and take great pride in the food and beverages served to Dunkin' Donuts guests every day. We take this matter very seriously. Following the recent health inspection at the Dunkin' Donuts restaurant at 2451 N McMullen Booth Road in Clearwater, the restaurant's franchise owner conducted a thorough cleaning and engaged their pest management company to resolve the issue.
The restaurant was reopened following further inspections from the health department and a certified Dunkin' Donuts operations manager. There are also plans for follow-up inspections to ensure that all appropriate Dunkin' Donuts food safety standards are being followed."
