Kansas City stadium food manager fired after exposing safety concerns
Jon Costa, the whistleblower behind the allegation of dozens of instances of food safety violations at Kansas City's two largest professional sports arenas, has been fired from his job as the food safety manager at both stadiums, ESPN reported.
Costa was fired by his employer, Aramark, on Mar. 17 via a letter he provided to ESPN. The letter cites the fact that Costa violated Aramark's media policy as grounds for termination.
The concession staffs at Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadiums were found to have committed more than 30 health violations, ESPN's Outside The Lines reported in November. An ensuing Kansas City Health Department inspection revealed that the two stadiums, which are home to the MLB's Kansas City Royals and NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, discovered violations at 20 out of 26 concession stands inspected.
• Surprise! Super Bowl concession items were really expensive
OTL's November report was centered around Costa's testimony, in which he described instances of expired pizza dough being served to customers, cockroaches in the cooking area, mouse feces on the same tray as sold food, mold growth in machines and excessive fruit flies.
At the time of the allegations, Costa said Aramark placed him on administrative leave.
An Aramark spokesman referred to Costa's claims as, "just allegations" at the time of the OTL report.
- Will Green
