ESPN Says The Trop Is Nation's Worst in Health Violations

Vendors at St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field say these violations were not serious enough to shut them down and were quickly corrected.

A new ESPN investigation has found that every one of Tropicana Field’s 47 food and drink vendors received a “critical violation” from health inspectors within the past year.

Only one other stadium did as poorly in the rankings of all major U.S. stadiums -- the Verizon Center in Washington D.C.

The Trop’s violations included dirty countertops and equipment, toxic chemicals stored too close to food preparation areas, and "slime" in the ice machines.

But The Trop was not the only Florida stadium singled out by the report. Seven of the eight stadiums nationwide with the highest rate of vendors with violations happen to be in Florida.

Eighty-four percent of the vendors at Raymond James Stadium received critical violations, including one for undercooked chicken tenders.

And 88 percent of concessionaires at St. Pete Times Stadium, home of the Lightning, received violations too.

Concessionaires point out that none of the violations were serious enough to shut down the vendors. And in Florida, inspections are performed by a state agency, which officials say makes standards more uniform and stringent.

Tampa Bay stadiums ranked poorly, but so did others across Florida, such as Miami’s Sun Life Stadium.

There, according to the ESPN report, “an employee complained anonymously that small insects and other debris were blended into frozen alcoholic beverages at a stand where equipment wasn't being cleaned. When inspectors checked, they issued a critical violation for a buildup of slime inside the frozen drinks machine.”