The McDonald’s restaurant where Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump briefly worked on Sunday failed its last health inspection, documents show.
The former president manned the fry station and served takeout to people in the drive-thru lane in Feasterville-Trevose in Bucks County, a key swing voter area in battleground Pennsylvania. The restaurant was closed to the public for Trump’s visit.
Trump, a big fan of McDonald’s food and a self-professed germophobe, wore an apron over his shirt and tie but did not wear gloves or a hairnet during his visit, stating that his hands were “nice and clean.” According to the Meidas Touch, he went straight to work without washing his hands.
Employees not washing their hands was one of the reasons that restaurant failed its most recent inspection.
Newsweek has contacted McDonald’s and the Trump campaign for comment outside business hours. This article will be updated if a comment is received.
Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. president Donald Trump, works behind the counter during a visit to McDonald’s restaurant on October 20, 2024, in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania. The McDonald’s restaurant failed its last health inspection.
Doug Mills/Pool-Getty Images
A report from the Bucks County Department of Health after an inspection on March 27 cited health code violations, including employees not having “hands clean and properly washed.”
It also said that employees were observed not washing their hands before putting on gloves and after engaging in activities that could contaminate their hands.
“Food employees are not washing their hands as required before putting on gloves, after handling soiled tableware, after handling raw meat, before handling clean tableware, equipment, utensils,” the county inspector wrote in the report. “Observed employees handling raw beef with gloves and then switching gloves without hand washing step in between.”
The inspector also noted that food workers were “not wearing hair restraints as required, which includes management that assists in packaging and preparing food.”
“Employees shall wear hair restraints such as hats, hair coverings or nets, they are effectively designed and worn to keep their hair from contacting exposed food; clean equipment, utensils and linen; and unwrapped single-service and single-use articles,” the report said.
In addition the restaurant was cited as not storing some food at the correct temperature. The report also noted that there was “heavy ice and frost buildup” in a walk-in freezer that needed to be repaired and maintained.
Some on social media called out Trump for not wearing gloves or any hair restraints.
“My problem with the McDonald’s / Trump staging … They closed the store. Folks lost wages for a guy that does not believe in paying overtime to hourly wages. He wasn’t wearing gloves handling food. This is dumb,” Tonya McKenzie, a public relations expert, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Lynn Marchitelli wrote: “Looking at the pictures of trump ‘working’ at McDonald’s makes me want to scream. Multiple food safety violations including lack of hair net and no gloves. Gross.”
And another, known as @CHERRYW00609336, wrote: “Trump is using his bare hands handling food, no gloves. Health and safety code violation.”
Others described Trump’s visit as a stunt, since the restaurant was closed.
Seth Abramson, a journalist and lawyer, wrote on X: “Perhaps no stunt in the history of U.S. politics deserves more ridicule than the grotesquely embarrassing mummery Trump put on at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s today … The McDonald’s was closed, the customers were fake, Trump did nothing.”
Trump’s visit came amid his attacks on Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris‘ accounts of working at the fast food giant while in college. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Harris is lying, without offering any evidence.
