A viral post alleges that an employee at a Burger King in Washington is warning customers about a potential health hazard.
TikToker Jessika (@jessikaka0) posted a photo of the note. Jessika writes that she saw it in a community Facebook page.
The note claims that the Burger King’s fryers are broken and they haven’t been able to change the oil in weeks.
It says, “I apologize in advance for how the food tastes, our fryers have been broken for over a month now and we can’t change or clean them properly. Please join us in calling the health department or corporate to further urgency, thank you! -BK STAFF.”
Part of the note is cut off in the photo, so some words may be missing.
There’s just one problem: The claim about being unable to change the oil in broken fryers doesn’t make much sense.
An employee at the Bremerton, Washington Burger King multiple people identified in the comments told the Mary Sue that the claim about its fryers being broken is false. She said an employee is just trying to “cause a scene” and that if one had been broken, they’d get it repaired within 24 hours.
“We have five fryers,” the employee, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record, added. She noted that they have seen the viral post.
Burger King’s corporate office did not respond to an email sent Thursday morning.
People in the comments are nevertheless convinced the story about the broken fryers at Burger King is true.
“Damn good for the employee risking their job trying to warn people,” reads a comment with over 3,200 likes.
No one seems to have pushed back on the claim that the oil in the fryers can’t be changed.
Restaurant fryers
Nearly every restaurant has at least one deep fryer. Maintaining clean oil in these machines is not only essential for food to taste and smell fresh, but it’s also necessary to protect people’s health.
Rancid oil is highly unlikely to make you ill in the short term, but it is harmful over time. Repeatedly consuming it has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Food cooked in rancid oil also typically has an unpleasant aftertaste. This is why most restaurants change the oil every few days.
The reason the note in the TikTok doesn’t make sense is simple: Changing the oil in a fryer is a manual operation.
First you turn off the machine and wait for the oil to cool. Then you use a fine mesh filter to skim out any leftover food or debris. Next you drain all the oil into another container. In the final steps, you wipe down and clean the interior of the machine then refill it with fresh oil.
Restaurant fryers have drain valves for this purpose. And most restaurants have multiple fryers.
If every single drain pipe was clogged or otherwise nonfunctional in its fryers, employees could still change the oil by scooping or siphoning it out.
‘Please break the cycle’
Jessika’s post about the purportedly broken fryers has over 110,000 views as of this writing.
Nobody who commented on her post seems to realize that it doesn’t make sense that all the fryers at a Burger King would be broken in a manner that makes it impossible to change the oil.
The allegation is nevertheless being pointed to as evidence of corporate greed, systemic issues with the fast food industry, and even the last gasp of late-stage capitalism.
“They know the company will listen to the customers more than the employees which is sad,” one claimed.
“Please break the cycle of obeying a manager over protecting the health of the consumer,” another said.
Several encouraged people to call the health department. The Kitsap Public Health District did not respond to an inquiry sent via the contact form on its website.
Another person implied that people should turn to the internet.
“I once had to create fake Google reviews for the place I worked at to get the place fixed up,” they wrote. “It worked though.”
No one thus far appears to have taken this advice.
Jessika didn’t immediately respond to a direct message sent via TikTok.
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