By rdnewsNOW Staff

Employee defends Red Deer restaurant after violations caught on video

Aug 24, 2017 | 9:18 AM

RED DEER — Some disturbing health code violations at a local fast food restaurant have been exposed by a former employee.

The story was first published by CBC Wednesday, Aug. 23. Jack Webb, the co-franchisee of a Carl’s Jr. in Red Deer’s Gasoline Alley, was caught on camera committing a series of ten shockingly unhygienic acts that included everything from using his bare arm to mix barbeque sauce and serving chicken that had been dropped on the floor.

Webb was temporarily barred from his own restaurant’s kitchen after Andrew Minnes, the former manager of the restaurant, blew the whistle on Webb by alerting health authorities and CBC.

The CBC video showing the infractions can be seen here.

Austin Harrison, an Assistant Manager at the restaurant, remembers when Minnes first showed him the video footage that was recorded in February and March.

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“He called me into the office and showed me the security footage of Jack with his hand in the barbeque sauce and another with his hand in the honey mustard sauce,” Harrison explained Thursday, adding he was shocked with what he saw. “He was basically informing me of what happened to avoid that and to talk to my staff and be like hey this is unacceptable please don’t do what the owner is doing.”

Harrison had a tough time believing the video at first until Minnes made clear it wasn’t a fake.

“Seeing one of my coworkers offer him a utensil and then him [Webb] refusing to use the utensil and continuing to use his hand, I was dumbfounded. When I saw that video for the first time I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a joke but obviously it’s not really a laughing matter.”

For Harrison, who is leaving the restaurant at the end of this week to return to college, he wants the incident to serve as a reminder about the importance of proper food handling practices.

“I do think it is important that it is out there and people are aware of what has happened. Even now for Carl’s Jr., because now corporate can look at it. They have videos that they can send to other restaurants that are currently operating, or restaurants that they do want to open and whoever wants to be an owner is going to have to look at those kinds of videos and be like ‘Hey, if you want to be an owner of one of our franchises you can’t do this.’”

Another Carl’s Jr. employee who asked to remain anonymous told rdnewsNOW that Webb’s inappropriate actions do not reflect how other workers conduct themselves.

“I have been employed at multiple fast food restaurants and Carl’s Jr. [here] is by far one of the cleanest,” she said. “The staff follows safe food handling as set by a strict set of guidelines from corporate head office. One careless person has ruined this image for all of us.”

She added that boycotting the restaurant because of what Webb did simply isn’t fair to the other employees, of which there are nearly 20, and that it puts their livelihood at risk.

Harrison agrees with that sentiment.

“It’s important to note that one person making this decision shouldn’t be reflective of the rest of the staff that works very hard to ensure the safety of guests and other staff members on a regular basis.”

In a statement, Alberta Health Services says that they received the video on Aug. 8 and began investigating soon after.

“As such, August 9, we issued an Order to the owner requiring the restaurant’s co-owner to stop handling food immediately, and successfully complete an approved food safety training course,” the statement reads, “as well as demonstrate both knowledge and appreciation for the importance of safe food handling to the satisfaction of Alberta Health Services, as verified by AHS, physically at the Carl’s Jr. location, prior to handling food again.”

AHS says Webb has completed the necessary training and that a notice of compliance was to be delivered to the restaurant Wednesday.

“We will also continue to inspect this facility, following an enhanced inspection schedule to ensure continued food safety,” their statement adds, noting that prior to the video surfacing they had not found any violations or concerns at this Carl’s Jr. location.

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