Three customers say they found worms in drinks from the same McDonald’s drive-thru soda machine in Paddock Lake, Wisconsin, and an inspection report obtained by TMJ4 News suggests restaurant management may have already known there was a problem near the machine before the complaints became public.
In a report for TMJ4, Kenosha County reporter Glenda Valdes said the disturbing discovery happened at the McDonald’s on 75th Street, where customers began comparing their experiences after one woman posted about finding a worm in her drink on a local Facebook group.
What started as one unsettling post quickly turned into something larger, Valdes reported, after two other customers who did not know the original poster replied with photos and said the same thing had happened to them.
A Facebook Post Leads To More Complaints
Valdes reported that Jazmyne Gurske first reached out after finding what she described as a worm in her drink. In a message to TMJ4, Gurske said she was “extremely angry” and struggling to understand how it could have happened.
She told the station she believed the explanation came down to two possibilities: either a serious sanitary issue, or someone intentionally putting something into the drinks.
Gurske said she had purchased two frappes and a smoothie from the Paddock Lake McDonald’s before making the discovery. After that, she said, the rest of the order was thrown away immediately.
“We threw all the rest of it away right away because it was so disgusting,” Gurske told Valdes. “We didn’t want to consume anything from there.”
That reaction is easy to understand. Finding something unexpected in a drink is bad enough, but finding something alive or worm-like raises a different level of concern, especially when multiple people say it happened at the same location.
Another Customer Says The Worm Came Through The Straw
Valdes also spoke with customer Joe Hauenstein, who said his experience was even more disturbing because he did not notice the worm until it was already in his mouth.
Hauenstein said he was drinking sweet tea when he felt something come up through the straw that he knew was not ice. He spit it into his hand and realized it was a worm, after he had already drunk about half of the beverage.
“The worm came through the straw,” Hauenstein said in the report. “It went into my mouth. I spit it out in my hand, and I was contemplating life because I’ve never had something that gross happen to me in my life.”
He called the experience “absolutely disgusting,” and said the issue was even more upsetting because he believed it was not simply an earthworm.
“It’s not just an earthworm – it’s a sewage worm, so that makes it even worse,” Hauenstein told Valdes. “You don’t know what’s on that worm.”
His concern was not only about what he consumed, but about what it might mean for other customers, including children. As he put it, no one would knowingly give something connected to sewage to their child.
Inspection Report Points To Problems Under The Machine
According to Valdes, Kenosha County Public Health received multiple consumer complaints about worms in drinks and inspected the restaurant on Monday.
The official inspection report obtained by TMJ4 said the tiles under the drive-thru soda and ice machine were severely damaged. More troubling, Valdes reported, management told inspectors they had already noticed worms coming from a sewage receptacle under the drive-thru soda and ice machine over the weekend.
That detail changes the story from a bizarre customer complaint into a larger question about response time, food safety, and whether the machine should have remained in use once signs of a possible sewage-related issue were noticed.
A health officer noted that recent flooding may have caused a failure in the floor drain and tiles, potentially allowing water to back siphon into components of the machine.
If that explanation proves accurate, it would point to a maintenance and infrastructure failure rather than a random one-time incident. Still, for customers, the practical concern is simple: they bought drinks from a machine that public health officials later said required reinspection before it could be used again.
Customers Say The Situation Should Have Been Prevented
Hauenstein told Valdes he was upset not only because of what happened, but because he believed the restaurant knew about the issue.
“They knew about it,” he said, after describing his concern that a sewage-related worm could carry parasites or make someone sick.
That is the part of the story that will likely anger customers most. Accidents can happen in restaurants, and plumbing problems can develop quickly, but once management notices something coming from a sewage receptacle under a drink machine, the expectation is that service from that area stops immediately until the problem is fixed.
Fast food depends heavily on trust. Most customers never see behind the counter, under the machines, or inside the plumbing systems that keep a restaurant running. They assume the drink handed through the drive-thru window is safe because the business is supposed to be maintaining those systems correctly.
When that trust breaks, it is difficult to repair with a generic explanation or silence from ownership.
McDonald’s Location Refers Questions To Licensee
Valdes said she called the McDonald’s location directly, but the manager told her they could not comment and referred her to the restaurant’s licensee, McEssy Investment Co.
TMJ4 reported that Valdes spoke with a representative there, who transferred her to another contact. The station said it called multiple times and left messages, but did not receive a response.
According to the inspection report, restaurant management hired a pest control company to service the area, and tile repairs were expected to be completed soon.
Kenosha County Public Health has ordered a reinspection of the drive-thru soda machine before it can be put back into service, Valdes reported.
That step is important, but for customers who say they already consumed drinks from the machine, it may not feel like enough. Public health responses are often procedural by design, but the public reaction to a case like this is emotional and immediate because it involves something people may have already swallowed.
A Disturbing Reminder About Restaurant Oversight
The Paddock Lake complaints are unusual, but they highlight a broader issue that applies to any restaurant: sanitation problems can become public health problems quickly when equipment, drains, and food-service areas are not properly maintained.
In this case, the reported connection to a sewage receptacle under a soda and ice machine makes the situation especially concerning, because beverages are served directly to customers with little opportunity for them to inspect what is inside.
It is also worth noting that the customers only found each other because one of them posted online. Without that Facebook post, Gurske, Hauenstein, and the third customer may have each assumed they experienced a strange isolated incident.
Instead, the complaints formed a pattern, and that pattern triggered public health scrutiny.
Reinspection Required Before Machine Reopens
For now, the drive-thru soda machine cannot be put back into service until Kenosha County Public Health reinspects it, according to Valdes’ report.
That does not erase what customers say happened, but it does give officials a chance to verify whether the machine area has been repaired, cleaned, and made safe before more drinks are served from it.
The restaurant’s next steps will matter, too. Pest control, tile repairs, and a passed reinspection may address the physical problem, but clear communication from ownership would go a long way toward addressing the customer trust problem.
For Gurske, Hauenstein, and the others who say they found worms in their drinks, the damage is already done. What remains is the question that many customers are likely asking after Valdes’ report: how long was the problem there, and why was anyone still being served from that machine once worms were reportedly noticed beneath it?
Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
