In this Discussion
- bertie April 2005
- crop51sound April 2005
- dollnumber3 April 2005
- M4417 April 2005
- sweetpea0431 March 2005
- Thomas April 2005
- vinyl99basin April 2005
Don't Eat At Wendy's Anytime Soon
I saw this in the SF Chronicle Thursday. They still havent found the hand. that the finger was attached to. or the person. anyways... the finger was about 1 and a half inches long.
""""An unlucky diner bit into a segment of a human finger while digging into a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose, Santa Clara County health officials confirmed Wednesday.
The diner, who visited the restaurant Tuesday night, spit out the well- cooked digit, notified restaurant workers and became sick to her stomach, health officials said.
The origin of the finger remains a mystery.
Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Martin Fenstersheib said he was called at home by San Jose police who went to Wendy's and immediately dispatched health inspectors to the restaurant. He said he ordered officers to transport the body part, wrapped in damp gauze, to the medical examiner's office.
The restaurant, at 1405 Monterey Road, was shut for a couple of hours while the batch of chili and stocks of chili ingredients were impounded. The restaurant was allowed to reopen and to cook another batch of chili using newly purchased ingredients.
Wendy's officials said they are eager to find out how their food became contaminated.
"The entire investigation is with the county health department,'' said Steve Jay, Wendy's marketing director for Santa Clara County. "We're fully cooperating.''
Jay said the chili came from a master distributor but declined to name the firm. He added that Wendy's has been doing business in the area for more than 25 years and never had a serious problem before.
Fenstersheib said he spoke to the anxious woman several times by phone and had the queasy experience of confirming to her that the object was indisputably human. The woman asked officials not to name or even describe her.
"I had to confirm it to her that she had indeed put a piece of a human finger in her mouth," Fenstersheib said. "She kind of lost it."
The woman was "emotionally distraught ... due to the unpleasant sensation of having this (object) in her mouth," Fenstersheib said
He said the finger had been cooked at a high enough temperature to kill any viruses, including hepatitis or HIV, and that it was very unlikely that she will suffer any health effects from her experience, aside from psychological trauma.
"The potential for health impacts are extremely low for her or anyone else who ate that chili," Fenstersheib said. He said, however, that he will recommend baseline viral testing for the woman, to allow for comparison should any food-borne illness emerge in the coming months.
A similar strategy might be wise for others who ate the contaminated food, he said. "The risk is low, but nothing in medicine is 100 percent," Fenstersheib said.
County officials say they have no idea how many other people consumed the contaminated chili, which was cooked at about 2 p.m. Tuesday and was served to customers until the finger turned up at 7:20 p.m. Anyone who may have eaten the contaminated batch is encouraged to call county health officials at (408) 918-3400.
The finger was described by county Medical Examiner Dr. Joseph O'Hara as cooked but not decomposed. The digit was found in two pieces, a 1-inch fingertip complete with the skin whorls used in fingerprinting and a half-inch piece of fingernail. The digit appeared to have been torn off, possibly by manufacturing machinery, rather than cleanly cut.
Considering the nail's slightly longer length and neat grooming, O'Hara speculated that it may have belonged to a woman, though "it's hard to tell."
Since all of the workers at the restaurant were found to be in possession "of all 10 of their fingers," health inspectors assume the finger likely entered the food chain as a result of the manufacturing process, according to county Environmental Resources Director Ben Gale.
Health inspectors said the restaurant appeared to be generally clean and well-maintained, with only one minor violation having to do with a leaky vent.
Gale said it could take weeks to track each of the numerous ingredients to their places of manufacture, which will be in different states or possibly even different countries. Since the law requires that industrial accidents result in a stoppage of the assembly line and be reported to authorities, it may be possible to pinpoint the site of the original accident.
In addition, authorities may be able to obtain a fingerprint and DNA from the finger to identify the person.
The restaurant was open Wednesday, and business was brisk despite the finger incident.
Elizabeth Adcock, who visits that Wendy's frequently and was having a bowl of chili Wednesday at around 3 p.m., said she had heard television reports about the finger, but thought it might be an urban legend.
Another woman who was eating chili at the restaurant, San Jose State student Andria Mendoza, said she had overheard workers discussing a finger in Spanish, so she proceeded carefully.
"I actually did check -- with my spoon,'' she said.
Customer Gary Grant of San Jose expressed disappointment that it was business-as-usual at the restaurant.
"We come here all the time,'' Grant said. "We just ate here today, and nobody said a thing. There were no signs up.
"How can you trust somebody like that? You're still serving food. Which basically means you don't care.''
Customer Fernando Anaya was in a lighter mood.
"Where's the finger at?" he joked as he ordered a salad.
Anaya said he worked at a cannery many years ago, so the incident with the finger doesn't shock him. He said he plans to keep eating at his local Wendy's.
"I don't eat chili anymore,'' he said. "I used to, but the cholesterol is too high.""""
Find it Here.
""""An unlucky diner bit into a segment of a human finger while digging into a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose, Santa Clara County health officials confirmed Wednesday.
The diner, who visited the restaurant Tuesday night, spit out the well- cooked digit, notified restaurant workers and became sick to her stomach, health officials said.
The origin of the finger remains a mystery.
Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Martin Fenstersheib said he was called at home by San Jose police who went to Wendy's and immediately dispatched health inspectors to the restaurant. He said he ordered officers to transport the body part, wrapped in damp gauze, to the medical examiner's office.
The restaurant, at 1405 Monterey Road, was shut for a couple of hours while the batch of chili and stocks of chili ingredients were impounded. The restaurant was allowed to reopen and to cook another batch of chili using newly purchased ingredients.
Wendy's officials said they are eager to find out how their food became contaminated.
"The entire investigation is with the county health department,'' said Steve Jay, Wendy's marketing director for Santa Clara County. "We're fully cooperating.''
Jay said the chili came from a master distributor but declined to name the firm. He added that Wendy's has been doing business in the area for more than 25 years and never had a serious problem before.
Fenstersheib said he spoke to the anxious woman several times by phone and had the queasy experience of confirming to her that the object was indisputably human. The woman asked officials not to name or even describe her.
"I had to confirm it to her that she had indeed put a piece of a human finger in her mouth," Fenstersheib said. "She kind of lost it."
The woman was "emotionally distraught ... due to the unpleasant sensation of having this (object) in her mouth," Fenstersheib said
He said the finger had been cooked at a high enough temperature to kill any viruses, including hepatitis or HIV, and that it was very unlikely that she will suffer any health effects from her experience, aside from psychological trauma.
"The potential for health impacts are extremely low for her or anyone else who ate that chili," Fenstersheib said. He said, however, that he will recommend baseline viral testing for the woman, to allow for comparison should any food-borne illness emerge in the coming months.
A similar strategy might be wise for others who ate the contaminated food, he said. "The risk is low, but nothing in medicine is 100 percent," Fenstersheib said.
County officials say they have no idea how many other people consumed the contaminated chili, which was cooked at about 2 p.m. Tuesday and was served to customers until the finger turned up at 7:20 p.m. Anyone who may have eaten the contaminated batch is encouraged to call county health officials at (408) 918-3400.
The finger was described by county Medical Examiner Dr. Joseph O'Hara as cooked but not decomposed. The digit was found in two pieces, a 1-inch fingertip complete with the skin whorls used in fingerprinting and a half-inch piece of fingernail. The digit appeared to have been torn off, possibly by manufacturing machinery, rather than cleanly cut.
Considering the nail's slightly longer length and neat grooming, O'Hara speculated that it may have belonged to a woman, though "it's hard to tell."
Since all of the workers at the restaurant were found to be in possession "of all 10 of their fingers," health inspectors assume the finger likely entered the food chain as a result of the manufacturing process, according to county Environmental Resources Director Ben Gale.
Health inspectors said the restaurant appeared to be generally clean and well-maintained, with only one minor violation having to do with a leaky vent.
Gale said it could take weeks to track each of the numerous ingredients to their places of manufacture, which will be in different states or possibly even different countries. Since the law requires that industrial accidents result in a stoppage of the assembly line and be reported to authorities, it may be possible to pinpoint the site of the original accident.
In addition, authorities may be able to obtain a fingerprint and DNA from the finger to identify the person.
The restaurant was open Wednesday, and business was brisk despite the finger incident.
Elizabeth Adcock, who visits that Wendy's frequently and was having a bowl of chili Wednesday at around 3 p.m., said she had heard television reports about the finger, but thought it might be an urban legend.
Another woman who was eating chili at the restaurant, San Jose State student Andria Mendoza, said she had overheard workers discussing a finger in Spanish, so she proceeded carefully.
"I actually did check -- with my spoon,'' she said.
Customer Gary Grant of San Jose expressed disappointment that it was business-as-usual at the restaurant.
"We come here all the time,'' Grant said. "We just ate here today, and nobody said a thing. There were no signs up.
"How can you trust somebody like that? You're still serving food. Which basically means you don't care.''
Customer Fernando Anaya was in a lighter mood.
"Where's the finger at?" he joked as he ordered a salad.
Anaya said he worked at a cannery many years ago, so the incident with the finger doesn't shock him. He said he plans to keep eating at his local Wendy's.
"I don't eat chili anymore,'' he said. "I used to, but the cholesterol is too high.""""
Find it Here.
Comments
Funny thing is, when my friends and I went to see Ok Go in Napoleon (OH), we had stayed overnight in a hotel, and had to leave by noon, so we had five hours to kill.. we probably spent two of them sitting in Wendy's... no fingers in our food though
It's not that I even order the Chili but it's just the thought of finding a finger in my food.
This actually helped me in my goal to give up fast food. Doesn't do Wendy's any good but lots for me. =)
Somewhere out there is a woman, dead or alive, who is missing a
well-manicured finger about 1 1/2 inches long. Authorities know where
the
finger ended up ‹ in a bowl of Wendy's chili ‹ but just who it belongs
to is
a mystery.
Anna Ayala's claim that she bit down on the finger in a mouthful of her
steamy stew on March 22 initially drew sympathy. But when police and
health
officials failed to find any missing digits among the workers involved
in
the restaurant's supply chain, suspicion fell on Ayala, and her story
has
become a late-night punch line.
"She went back there for lunch today ‹ she's trying to collect all
five,"
quipped David Letterman.
Jay Leno joked: "Instead of a spoon, they serve it with nail clippers."
For executives at Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's International Inc., it is
anything but funny.
Sales have dropped at franchises in Northern California, forcing
layoffs and
reduced hours, the company said. Wendy's also has hired private
investigators, set up a hot line for tips and doubled its reward Friday
to
$100,000 for information leading to the finger's original owner.
"Our brand reputation has been affected nationally. We are determined
to
find out what really happened," said president and chief executive Tom
Mueller. He said Wendy's employees have passed polygraph tests, and
"there
is no credible evidence that Wendy's is the source of the foreign
object."
*****Ayala hired a lawyer and filed a claim against the Wendy's
franchise
owner, Fresno-based JEM Management. But after police searched her home
in
Las Vegas and continued to question her family, she dropped the lawsuit
threat, saying the whole situation was just too stressful.
*****As it turns out, Ayala has a litigious history. She has filed
claims
against several corporations, including a former employer and General
Motors, though it is unclear from court records whether she received
any
money. She said she got $30,000 from El Pollo Loco after her
13-year-old
daughter got sick at one of the chain's Las Vegas-area restaurants. El
Pollo
Loco officials say she did not get a dime.
******The San Jose Police fraud unit joined Las Vegas police in the
search
of her home there, and officers have questioned her relatives. A family
friend, Ken Bono, 24, said the warrant indicated police were looking
for a
cooler, a blue bag and "any family documents about anybody dead."
If police do obtain evidence that Ayala planted the finger, she could
face
charges of fraud, extortion or making false statements, legal experts
said.
Back at the Wendy's where the chili was served, customers seem
convinced the
tale of the finger was a scam.
"There's too much in this country today with people trying to get
things by
conning them out of it. Wendy's has been good for years," said longtime
customer 81-year-old Ralph Woodman. "How the hell would you get a
finger
into the pot without seeing it in there when you're stirring it?
Bitch tried to bankrupt 'em...that's like messin' with my mama....I lived on Wendy's 99 cents menu in college!!!
PFFT
i love wendys. wendy is my savior, lol
OMG, in the mall near my house...their wendys logo is black! i shit you not!! i should take a picture and post it or something.