Like clockwork, the New York Mets fill their fans with heartache every September. Now, it looks like they’re trying to get an early start on some stomach aches, too.

According to ESPN’s list of stadium “vendor inspection reports,” Citi Field is rife with health code violations, at least one of which included a bunch of warm, raw chicken being stored on premises

Citi Field
New York Mets
Vendors with critical violations: 45%
Inspection report excerpt: Inspectors found 20 pounds of grilled chicken registered at 70 degrees in a refrigerator, about 30 degrees warmer than allowed.

Yuck.

But the Mets are far from the worst offenders. The Consumerist has compiled it’s “Top 10 Disgusting Stadium Food Vendor Health Violations.” (I presume they mean the “top” 10.)

Look what’s going on in Miami — in a stadium named after an insurance company no less.

Sun Life Stadium
Miami Dolphins, Florida Marlins
Vendors with critical violations: 93%
Inspection report excerpt: In June 2009, an employee complained anonymously that small insects and other debris were blended into frozen alcoholic beverages at a stand where equipment wasn’t being cleaned. When inspectors checked, they issued a critical violation for a buildup of slime inside the frozen drinks machine.

I guess the lesson here is to stick to the peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

In related news, Claire Wilkinson of the wonderful III blog Terms + Conditions just wrote an interesting post on food safety. Focusing on an op-ed from this Sunday’s New York Times urging Congress to improve standards and grant more authority to the FDA.

While the elderly and people with compromised immune systems face an elevated risk from food borne pathogens like listeria, campylobacter and salmonella, by far the most vulnerable group are children under the age of four.

The economic cost of the problem is also huge. A recent study sponsored by Pew Charitable Trusts puts the total annual health-related cost of food-borne illness in the U.S. at about $152 billion.

Schlosser notes that legislation in the Senate would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to order the recall of contaminated foods and punish companies that knowingly sell them. It would also improve the FDA’s ability to trace outbreaks back to their source.

No word, however, on whether or not the FDA can help the Mets crawl back into the Wild Card race.