PORTLAND – The Portland Rose Garden earned low marks for some of its food vendors in a sports network study.
A study, conducted for ESPN’s TV show “Outside the Lines,” found that more than half of all Rose Garden vendors had "critical health violations" last year.
Multnomah County health inspectors went to the Rose Garden last spring and found violations at 16 of 31 vendors. Those violations were fixed right away.
The violations ranged from no paper towels in a dispenser, soiled floors under machinery, mold in an ice machine chute, improper temperatures for chilled or heated foods, to cases of raw beef stored over bags of hot dog buns.
There was one stomach-turner in the inspection reports, a violation in a central kitchen. "Rodent droppings found under both soda machines (where Steritech glue strips were placed). Droppings appear old. Also, floor under back counter in front counter area is very soiled with popcorn kernels; found these kernels in area where rodent droppings were found."
Inspectors left instructions that the area was to be cleaned nightly.
Tony Hendryx, General Manager for Ovations, the company in charge of all Rose Quarter vendors, said it was important to put the report in context.
"It's hard for anyone to go across the United States and draw a consistent baseline on what is good and what is bad," said Hendryx.
Officials with the Multnomah County Health Department agreed. They said the state by state report was based on "critical violations." However, states have different definitions of what's considered a "critical" violation. For example, Oregon considers things like empty soap dispensers and open soda cans "critical violations", and some other states don't.
Hendryx noted that more than one-third of Rose Quarter vendors received perfect 100 percent scores during the inspection, and the lowest score in the building was an 83 - well above a passing grade of 70.
"Our average was 95.65 percent which is a pretty outstanding inspection record," said Hendryx.
The inspection reports are public. Click here to see the report and type "Center Court" in the "Street Name" box. Any Multnomah County restaurant can be searched using this tool.
The ESPN study found similar violations at other arenas and stadiums nationwide.
Among northwest facilities, the ESPN study found that 16 out of 31 vendors at Portland's Rose Garden had "critical violations".
At Safeco Field in Seattle, where the Seattle Mariners play, the study found 16% of vendors had critical violations. An excerpt from the Safeco inspection noted one location had inadequate hand-washing facilities and employees who didn't properly wash their hands.
At Qwest Field in Seattle, where the Seahawks play, 33% of vendors had critical violations, and the inspection report noted that about 15 locations were cited for not having adequate hand-washing facilities.
KGW Reporter Wayne Havrelly contributed to this report
