Felony charges filed against a Texas Roadhouse employee for allegedly inserting hair into a steak is a completely abhorrent exception, and not the norm, in the food industry, according to workers and representatives.
The alleged actions of Ryan Kropp, 24, of West Bend, who was charged Wednesday with placing foreign objects in edibles, a class I felony, are simply unconscionable for food industry workers, according to Susan Quam, executive director of the Wisconsin Restaurants Association’s education foundation. Most people who work in kitchens and dining rooms consider themselves professionals and would be extremely embarrassed if hair got into food even by accident, she said.
“The issue of purposefully adulterating a product is not something our industry condones, and it goes completely against our training,” Quam said. “A lot of the individuals in our industry do it because that’s what they enjoy — providing service to people or serving food that makes people happy.”
Purposefully ruining a product wouldn’t be acceptable in any other profession — a plumber wouldn’t intentionally wreck a homeowner’s plumbing, for example — and it’s not OK in the restaurant business, according to Jack McGhee, head chef at Januli’s Pizzeria & Italian in West Bend.
“It’s just wrong,” McGhee said. “It shows someone who is very immature. This is not just a job; it’s a profession.”
McGhee said restaurant workers must take customer complaints, which was the reason Kropp allegedly tampered with the steak, in stride. The customer may not always be right, but it’s your job to make them think they are, he said.
“I’ve had people order things and maybe it wasn’t what they expected or they just didn’t like it,” McGhee said. “Ordering a steak medium-rare is a good example. It might not be medium-rare, but you just say, ‘OK, what is your definition of medium-rare?’ and you make another steak.”
Januli’s just passed an inspection with flying colors, according to owner Julie Sears.
“We have an open kitchen here so anybody can look and see what we’re doing,” Sears said. “Cleanest kithcen he’s seen in Washington County, the inspector said.”
The county contracts with the state Department of Health and Family Service’s Division of Public Health to conduct inspections of licensed food service facilities, according to Health Department public health nurse Gerry Benthein.
“The best way to describe it is that we keep open communication between us and the state inspector,” Benthein said.
“If they feel there’s something that we need to know about a licensed facility, they make us aware” and vice versa, she said.
Benthein said the complaints the county passed along to the state inspector averaged about one per week, and there were none about possible food tampering. The state inspector could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens said he had never had case of foreign objects in edibles involving a restaurant worker in his 17 years on the job. The only other instance Martens remembered of the crime being charged was the case of a construction worker who urinated in a coworkers coffee mug.
“It’s not required that this crime be committed in a restaurant or by a restaurant worker, but it does go the hope and the expectation that we have that our food is safe and hasn’t been tampered with,” Martens said.
“We all want to have the expectation that our food is safe and hasn’t been tampered with,” Martens said, whether it’s from a grocery store or a restaurant.
Martens said Kropp was charged yesterday and released on a signature bond. The crime is punishable by a maximum three-year prison sentence, according to the criminal complaint.
McGhee said it was astonishing to think a restaurant cook could think they would get away with such a disgusting act.
“It’s not something you mess around with,” McGhee said. “It’s the reputation of the business, and it’s your job on the line.”
Quam said regardless of diners’ perceptions such tampering almost never happens.
“Unfortunately, this is what makes the news and grabs people’s attention when we have millions and millions of meals served every day by people who would never think of doing anything like that,” Quam said.