The Silver Spring Penguin

On Friday, amateur video showed rats running buck wild inside a New York Taco Bell. That made The Penguin’s editor ask, “What’s crawling inside Silver Spring’s fast-food joints?” Surfing through county inspection records put some fears to rest, and sprouted new anxieties that shrinks haven’t even defined yet.

Twelve out of 14 fast-food franchises in the area showed no signs of rodents during their most recent health inspections, according to a search conducted by The Silver Spring Penguin. However, two restaurants located in the same strip mall showed signs of mice.

The Penguin checked out the most recent inspection reports for eight large chains with restaurants in Silver Spring below the Beltway: two McDonald’s restaurants, two Domino’s Pizza joints, five Subways, and single outlets of Burger King, Pizza Hut, Popeye’s, KFC and Chipotle Mexican Grill.

A McDonald’s restaurant near the Silver Spring Metro station (8507 Colesville Rd) and a Burger King inside City Place mall (8661 Colesville Rd) received clean bills of health, according to Montgomery County records.

A county health inspector cited Chipotle Mexican Grill (907 Ellsworth Dr) for “drain flies” at a mop sink. However, the inspection report did not mention bugs in the food-prep area, or rodents anywhere in the restaurant.

Five restaurants were cited by the county for violations unrelated to pests: KFC (7720 Blair Rd, Takoma Park), Domino’s Pizza (one at 8700 Flower Ave and another at 9450 Georgia Ave), Popeye’s (8641 16th St) and the area’s five Subway shops (click here for locations).

However, two fast-food joints in the same 16th Street strip mall caught heat for signs of mice. The McDonald’s at Spring Center (8637 16th St) was busted in December when an inspector found mouse droppings, according to the health department.

During that inspection, the restaurant was also ordered to trash about 30 burger buns nibbled away by mice, the inspection report read.

Omar Deras, store manager for McDonald’s, told The Penguin via phone that a pest-control company has since been contracted to treat the restaurant monthly.

Also at Spring Center, mouse droppings were found in a storage area during a July inspection of Pizza Hut (8607 16th St). The takeout kitchen was told to sanitize the area and to contact an exterminator, the inspection report read.

A Pizza Hut store manager was not available to speak with The Penguin before press time.

By comparison, four other restaurants at Spring Center — Cameron’s Seafood, Popeye’s, Spring Garden and Baskin-Robbins — were not cited for signs of mice or rats, according to recent county records.

Video courtesy of CNN.com. Illustration courtesy of the The Associated Press.