Man Goes To Delta Sky Club Lounge At Fort Lauderdale Airport. Then He Sees Something Concerning: ‘Don’t Get Milk With Your Coffee’

There’s an old saying that “You don’t want to know how the sausage is made.”

If you don’t know what that means, talk to anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant. Even if a restaurant has high cleanliness standards, almost every restaurant worker has a story about something gross happening on the job.

Some of these tales have even bled over to the internet. Online, workers have recounted restaurants not washing trays and drinks being made in buckets.

Stories like these are the reason why health regulations exist. Regulators know that people won’t be able to follow all the rules all of the time—but as long as workers follow the major ones and try their best to keep in line with the minor ones, restaurants will be able to safely serve customers without accidentally poisoning them.

One visitor to a Delta Sky Club lounge claims that he caught them breaking a major food safety rule. But is he right?

What’s Wrong With This Coffee Machine?

In a video with over 205,000 views, TikTok user Brian David (@hotmessxpresurself) shows the Delta SkyClub Lounge at the Fort Lauderdale airport in Florida.

“Oh don’t get milk with your coffee at the @delta sky club,” he writes in the text overlaying the video.

The video then zooms in on the supply line for the coffee dispenser. Looking closely, one can see that the milk—which is used to make milk coffee drinks like cappuccinos or lattes—is not in the refrigerator. Instead, a line simply goes down from the machine directly into the gallon jug, which appears to sit unrefrigerated.

“Was at the delta sky club and noticed they store the milk for the coffee machines in non-refrigerated cabinets,” writes David in the caption, adding a “sick” emoji.

Is This A Problem?

It’s unclear if this is how the machine is supposed to work.

To start, the video shows several workers looking at the milk jug, implying there’s something wrong with it. Additionally, there is a refrigerator unit next to the gallons of milk. This would suggest that the milk is typically refrigerated. In the video, it’s uncertain if the milk was only removed from the refrigeration temporarily or if the coffee machine truly was operating with unrefrigerated milk.

All of that said, even if the milk is not refrigerated, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem. In fact, there are some perfectly acceptable reasons why this milk would go unrefrigerated.

Generally speaking, the normal milk you buy in the grocery store should not be left outside of a cooler or refrigerator for more than two hours. However, there are plenty of milk options on the market that can, in fact, be left outside of a refrigerator.

For example, shelf-stable milk can be left unrefrigerated. This is because it’s pasteurized at an ultra-high temperature and sealed in a sterile packing environment. Still, it should be noted that the FDA recommends refrigerating shelf-stable milk after it’s been opened.

So, what’s going on here? It’s more than likely that the milk was stored properly and that it was only briefly removed from refrigeration. As long as this removal was for less than 2 hours, it will likely continue to be safe to drink.

Is It A Big Deal?

In the comments section, users weren’t particularly bothered by the presence of unrefrigerated milk in the lounge.

“Were yall expecting a cow to be down there? What do you think the machine is pulling the milk from??” asked a user.

“Looks like they were switching it, that little box behind it is a chiller,” added another.

“You do realize that the milk sits in that metal cooler directly next to it when in use right? Probably a comfortable 30-40°F,” shared a third. “They only took it out because they are swapping it.”

“There is time or temp regulations. Product can’t be over 40 dgs. OR OR OR OR OR it can stay out safely for two hours. Two hours gives them plenty of time to change it out,” observed a further TikToker.

BroBible reached out to Brian David via TikTok direct message and to Delta via media contact form.