JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The McDonald's restaurant on San Jose Boulevard at Loretto Road was among three area restaurants temporarily closed by state inspectors last week.
During a surprise visit of the McDonald's, inspectors reported finding dozens of live roaches on the floor behind the fry dispenser and 18 dead roaches in the same location.
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The team leader spoke briefly about this latest inspection.
"They were dead because they've been spray," said an employee who would only idenfity himself as Jeremy. "That we knew we had a problem, they came, everything was take care of."
David Mullins, owner-operator of this McDonaldald's franchise, sent this statement Wednesday:
"The health and safety of our customers and employees are our highest priorities. We took the matter very serious."
MORE ONLINE: Restaurant inspection database
A similar problem was found at Castillo De Mexico on Beach Boulevard after a customer complaint. While the inspector resulted in only one critical violation, the report indicates that 30 to 40 roaches were found on dishes and few more in other parts of the kitchen.
Owner Mike Boswell was very open about the problem.
"It was a customer that had some debris, and that alert us that there was more than just a little problem," Boswell said.
He went on to explain they called their old exterminator who came out several times and he thought the problem was under control. Since last week's incident, Castillo De Mexico has hired a new exterminator.
Boswell apologized to all of his customers, specifically the couple who found the bug in their food.
"I want to talk with the couple who had the issue and please come back and we'll make it right," said Boswell.
Inspectors last week also reported finding roaches at Fiji, at the corner of Beach and Hodges boulevards. The report indicates 40 roaches were under a freezer.
The manager talked about the problem over the phone and an employee gave Channel 4 full access to the kitchen to see what the restaurant has done since the closure.
"We had a roach problem that's what we found out a few days ago and we've been working with the pest control company real hard to try and get rid of it," said manager Peter Qui.