A Connecticut woman filed a complaint against the fast-casual salad chain Chopt on Monday (Nov 27) after she allegedly chewed a severed human finger while eating her salad.
Contaminated dishes in US
The woman, Allison Cozzi, had purchased a salad from the chain’s Mount Kisco store in New York in April this year.
According to the suit, she found a piece of the manager’s finger in the food.
She realised that ‘she was chewing on a portion of a human finger that had been mixed into and made a part of, the salad,’ the suit read.
The manager allegedly cut off her left pointer finger while using a knife to cut arugula, the lawsuit alleged.
While the manager rushed to a local hospital to receive the treatment, the contaminated arugula was mixed into salad which was served to several customers, including Cozzi, as per the lawsuit.
It was not clear whether other customers were served the contaminated salad or not.
Victim impact statement
Cozzi alleged that she suffered several injuries, including cognitive impairment, dizziness, nausea, panic attacks, shock, migraine, and neck and shoulder discomfort after the incident.
Earlier, the Chopt restaurant was fined $900, Westchester County health records show.
This is not the first time that a food chain has been sued over serving contaminated dishes this year in the US.
In August, Olive Garden was sued when a man claimed to find a piece of a rat’s foot in his minestrone soup.
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NPR noted previous instances, including a 2012 case of a 14-year-old finding a finger in an Arby’s sandwich, and a 2006 incident at TGI Friday’s where a diner discovered a finger in his burger, accidentally left by a kitchen employee who cut his finger.
In 2004, an Ohio Arby’s customer, David Scheiding, found ‘a piece of flesh about three-fourths of an inch long’ in his sandwich, leading to a $50,000 lawsuit.
