Don't eat the Chili at Wendy's

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/san...s/11221666.htm

Posted on Thu, Mar. 24, 2005

Search continues for origin of finger found in fast food chili

BRIAN SKOLOFF

Associated Press

Searching a fingerprint database typically used to solve crimes, authorities on Thursday hoped to find who lost a partial finger that was served in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose earlier this week.

A woman scooped up a mouthful of the steamy stew and bit down on the digit before spitting it out, Joy Alexiou, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County Health Department, said Thursday.

Alexiou said the county coroner was attempting to find a fingerprint match in an electronic database.

Employees at the Wendy's were asked to show investigators their fingers after the Tuesday night incident. All employees' digits were accounted for, officials said, adding that the well-cooked finger may have begun its journey in a food processing plant.

Wendy's spokesman Denny Lynch said company officials were meeting Thursday to discuss the results of their internal investigation.

"All of our employees have ten digits," Lynch said, adding that there have been no reports to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of injuries at any supplier of chili ingredients to Wendy's.

"By law, you can't hide that sort of stuff," he said. "All of our chili suppliers report no accidents."

Lynch said the company would share their information with Santa Clara County authorities.

Health officials said the fingertip was approximately an inch-and-a-half long. They believe it belongs to a woman because of the long, manicured nail.

The county's health department, sheriff's department and the Santa Clara County Environmental Health Department were working on the case Thursday.

Alexiou said the woman, who asked officials not to identify her, is at minimal risk of contracting illnesses from the finger.

"It's an extremely low chance because the chili was cooked at a very high temperature that would have killed anything in the finger," Alexiou said.

Nonetheless, she said health department officials would ask the woman's doctor to test her blood "to make sure nothing got passed to her."

"She was so emotionally upset once she found out what it was," Alexiou said. "She was vomiting."

The Wendy's restaurant was closed for a few hours Tuesday while investigators seized the remaining chili and its ingredients.

Asked whether customers were still buying chili Thursday, an employee at the Wendy's said only, "We always sell a lot of chili."