On Thursday, Nov. 18, TODAY aired a report about health violations at mall food courts. Below are statements in response from Mall of America spokesperson Dan Jasper; Faneuil Hall Marketplace and South Street Seaport Mall, from General Growth Properties spokesperson Janell Vaughan; and St. Clair Square Mall spokesperson Sean C. Phillips:
Statement from Mall of America spokesperson Dan Jasper:
“Our goal at Mall of America is to provide a safe and welcoming environment for all of our guests. With more than 40 million visitors a year enjoying our more than 500 retail stores and 60 restaurants, we recognize that exceeding our own expectations is not always easy. However, it is a challenge we have embraced for our 18 years of operation, and a challenge we fully expect our tenants to embrace along with us. Mall of America restaurants are inspected regularly by the City of Bloomington and held to the highest standards. The inspection process serves a vital role — to protect the health of all of us. While Mall of America management is not involved in the inspection process, we take such violation notifications very seriously and work with tenants to make sure the problem is corrected. All violations cited in the NBC report were addressed promptly by our tenants. The City has an inspection process to follow up on violations cited.
“That said, we take several steps to ensure a continued safe food environment, including: Our tenants take prompt action when notified of any violations or issues. We have instituted a texting campaign that will allow guests to quickly and easily share any concerns they have regarding food safety or cleanliness issues; texts will be monitored during all operational hours, with responses to the guest, as well as the tenant. We contract with a well respected professional firm to identify and resolve any pest issues. The City of Bloomington gives awards each year for outstanding food safety. Several of our tenants have received this award and as landlords we sponsor this award and encourage all of our restaurants to participant. Mall of America has always taken the safety of our guests seriously, and we will continue to do so. We remain committed to responding quickly to any issue whether we discover them, are notified by the City or by a guest. We do everything within our power to resolve all issues promptly.”
Statement from Faneuil Hall Marketplace, and South Street Seaport Mall, from General Growth Properties spokesperson Janell Vaughan:
“The safety and well-being of our visitors are of paramount importance to us. Food vendors, whether at a mall or elsewhere, have a responsibility to operate under the highest of health and safety standards. We support and cooperate fully with all health department inspections of food vendors. Any time a violation or infraction is discovered, we require and expect our food vendors to take immediate corrective action.”
Statement from Sean C. Phillips, spokesperson for St. Clair Square Mall in Illinois:
“The safety and well-being of our customers, retail partners and employees is one of our top priorities at St. Clair Square. When we are made aware of an issue, we work with the tenant in conjunction with the appropriate local agencies to address the situation. In a conversation with the St. Clair County Health Department today, we are advised that there are no health department violations at St. Clair food court tenants.”