2005-03-24

Fast Finger Food?

Hungry? Planning on stopping for a quick bite to eat at your local fast food chain? If you feel something weird when you crunch down, put the burger down.

Or the chili, in this case. A woman,
Anna Ayala, 39, of Las Vegas, at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose, California, found a human finger in a bowl of chili on Wednesday.
"This individual apparently did take a spoonful, did have a finger in their mouth and then, you know, spit it out and recognized it," said Ben Gale, director of the department of environmental health for Santa Clara County. "Then they had some kind of emotional reaction and vomited."

Ben certainly has a way with words. Here are more of the same from another guy.

"Initially she did put this object in her mouth and did bite down on it and wasn't sure exactly what it was," Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Martin Fenstersheib said at a news conference. "She's doing OK. Initially she was a bit grossed out it was described to me, and vomited a number of times."

Fenstersheib said the finger had been cooked at a high enough temperature to kill any viruses.

Medical Examiner Dr. Joseph O'Hara says, "The segment of skin has very irregular torn edges, it looks like its lacerated. It's not incised - incised meaning it would have been with a sharp edge, like a knife or something. That was not the case it was torn, it had multiple puncture defects."

"Suddenly something crunchy was in my mouth,'' she said, ``and I spit it out.''

Officials said the fingertip was approximately 1 3-8-inches long and a half-inch piece of fingernail was also found. They believe it belongs to a woman because of the long, manicured nail.

I saw this on CNN this morning. The reporter could hardly keep a straight face. I also got to see a photo of the finger but despite scouring the internet, I haven't found it for you yet. I'll let you know if it pops up.

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