- An Ohio Reddit user claimed he found what appeared to be a crack pipe in his McDonald's order.
- McDonald's said footage and staff interviews didn't suggest the item came from the restaurant.
- Inspectors visited the site and ordered it to temporarily close anyway after finding unrelated food-safety violations.
A McDonald's restaurant in Columbus was ordered to close over food-safety violations after a customer said he found a crack pipe nestled along his breakfast order.
A Reddit user posted on Tuesday that he'd found a glass "crack pipe" in the bag of the breakfast order he'd collected from the drive-thru at one of the chain's locations near Columbus.
The Reddit user said in comments on the platform that he had informed the restaurant's manager, McDonald's corporate team, and the Columbus Division of Police of his discovery. He said that he tried to give the bag to the manager but "he didn't want to take it back."
The man said he was a regular customer at the McDonald's location and had never had any problems there before. He said they were relieved that he'd been the one to find the crack pipe: "I don't want it to happen to a child."
The man sent Business Insider photos of the item and his receipt, which included a steak, egg, and cheese bagel, two hash browns, two holiday pies, an egg McMuffin, and orange juice. The receipt was printed just before 10 a.m.
Alex Mendoza, the owner of the franchise location, told Business Insider that the safety of customers and staff was his "first priority" and that the restaurant had begun a "thorough internal review" of the claim.
Mendoza said that security footage and interviews with employees didn't provide any evidence that suggested the item came from the restaurant. His franchise company, the Mendoza Company, says it owns 20 McDonald's in the Columbus area.
Inspectors from Columbus Public Health visited the restaurant on Wednesday for an emergency inspection, where they found multiple violations.
A copy of the inspection report, published by The Cincinnati Enquirer, detailed the chronology of events surrounding the alleged crack pipe, but didn't state whether any evidence of this was found in the restaurant.
A spokesperson for Columbus Public Health did not directly address BI's query about whether inspectors found any information about the alleged discovery of the crack pipe.
Instead, the inspection report focused on the "heavy construction" being performed to the seating area, service counter, and beverage service station. Construction workers were moving freely through the food-prep areas and the customer seating area, the inspectors wrote.
"There was no protective barrier between the construction area and the food service area," the inspectors wrote. There was dust on food-preparation counters, the floor, and equipment including the soda dispenser, frozen drinks machine, and coffee machine.
Construction debris including loose screws, tools, and wiring was also left on top of food-service equipment and in food-preparation areas, while personal cell phones had been placed on top of the grill, they wrote.
An environmental-health specialist ordered the restaurant to close. The restaurant needed to be cleaned, "thoroughly sanitized," and then reinspected by the health department before it could reopen for public service, the inspectors said in their report.
"This temporary closure was not in any way related to the customer's report of a crack pipe," Mendoza told BI. The restaurant reopened on Thursday, the day after it had closed, McDonald's told BI.
