Baseball fans all over the country might be thinking twice before taking a bite at the ballpark.
A Sports Illustrated story ranked Globe Life Park in Arlington as the 20th safest place to eat in a list of 28 Major League Baseball stadiums.
The story pulled health inspection data, then ranked the 28 ballparks based on their health-code violations. Among the dozens of concessions stands and restaurants within a single ballpark, some had "stellar" ratings, like No. 1 Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.
Globe Life Park was cited for 43 critical violations, SI found, including a "live roach" in one area. The worst offender, the Tampa Bay Rays' Tropicana Field, saw 105 critical violations, which refer to more severe citations that could be linked to spreading foodborne illnesses.
Pitting one city's health inspection scores against another's may not be a fair comparison, according to Casey Rapp, general manager of Delaware North Sportservice, the concessions group for Globe Life Park. You know his team: They came up with the 24-inch-long Boomstick, this year's new "brisket balls" and other concessions items that seem possible only in Texas.
"I feel like the care and time we put into food safety is not talked about and leaves a lot up to interpretation," he writes in an email.
Being No. 20 is not great, Rapp assents. But don't go crying into your chili dog just yet.
"We spend lots of time and money making sure our associates are well-trained in food safety practices and, most importantly, that our guests eat food that has been safely prepared and tastes good," he writes.
"We are working on a system to track our scores and hold ourselves accountable for figuring out ways to fill the gaps." He adds that the company now also uses a private company to do inspections "to make sure we maintain our high standards."
SI writer Tanner Walters writes that baseball fans across the country shouldn't panic; "they should be most wary of violations found across multiple concession stands within a stadium."
In a health inspection dated May 18 at Globe Life Park, the Arlington Health Services group found one fast-food joint inside the ballpark with 21 violations. For reference, 15 demerits is "average," says the Arlington website, and "25 demerits or above requires a reinspection of the establishment."
The 78 shops inside Globe Life Park saw about five demerits on average; 18 received zero.
According to health inspection data, those numbers are better than what Arlington considers "average."
SI states plainly that food safety violations can be a problem at MLB stadiums. "From poor employee hygiene practices to food held at dangerous temperatures, health inspectors consistently find — and correct — a myriad of issues when they enter venues year after year," the story reads.
Of course, health inspectors find those at non-ballparks, too: It's their job.
Some Arlington restaurants — and surely ones in other cities, too — fared worse than Globe Life Park. The current health inspection record on Arlington's website lists 126 instances where a business failed an inspection. Of Globe Life Park's 78 shops on the inspection, none failed.
But what about that roach? "The ballpark is open air, and unfortunately that means we are open to the elements, just like a home when you leave open a door or window," Rapp explains. "We employ a pest control company that comes out regularly and is on call if we have any problems. When the bug was spotted on the upper deck, we immediately called the pest control, they came out and found no sign of infestation of any kind."
A representative from the health department in Arlington wasn't immediately available to weigh in on Globe Life Park's safety ratings.
Rapp says his team is "continuously working to improve our scores."
"Our goal is not just to be the No. 1 MLB park but to make sure our fans get the safest food possible," he writes.
See the SI story for the full list of ballpark food safety rankings. But here's what you really want to know: The Tampa Bay Rays' inspection included reports of "live insects" and "black mold accumulating inside an ice bin."
