The Eleven Most Shockingly Gross Food-Industry Settlements
This week, KFC’s parent company was ordered to pay over $8 million in a settlement to the family of an Australian girl who suffered brain damage after eating the chain’s chicken.
The case is completely disturbing, but the scarier news is that it’s hardly an isolated incident in the annals of fast food. In fact, it seems like every month we’ve got another good citizen falling prey to the industry’s safety lapses and plain old stupidity.
Here now, a look back at eleven such cases where food companies were pressed to settle with their victims customers, each one more disgusting and disconcerting than the one that came before.
Elite.
10. Vegetarians Stick McDonald's For $10 Million
In 2009, McDonald's made resitition 10 Million Dollars in donations to Hindu and vegetarian groups who were understandably upset that the chain had never disclosed the fact that its fries were made with beef by-products.
9. Knife Discovered in Subway Sandwich
In 2008, a woman settled with Subway for $2,500 two years after cutting her lip on a small blade in her sandwich at a Manhattan location of the chain.
"It was ... so sharp it could've taken my tongue off in a second," she claimed
8. McDonald's Sued for Making Everybody Fat
In 2005, the nation's numero uno fast-food giant paid a settlement of 8.5 million dollars in a series of class act suits brought on by the anti-trans-fat patrol, who claimed the restaurant hadn't lowered its levels as promised and didn't let anyone know.
Seven million went to the American Heart Association, while most of the remainder was used to let us know just how bad trans-fat is for everyone
7. Jerry Brown Sues Big Brands Over Carcinogenic Chips and Fries
In 2005, now California Governor Jerry Brown sued huge food companies Burger King, KFC, Wendy's, McDonald's, Frito-Lay, Heinz, Kettle Foods, and Lance Inc. over their levels of acrylamide, a carcinogenic by-product of browning food.
While no money was paid out, the companies settled by agreeing to lower to the level of the hazardous chemical in their offerings
6. Bumblebee Plant Spreads Botulism
In 2007, eight people were sickened with botulism after eating Castleberry, Kroger, and Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauces, traced back to a Bumble Bee-owned plant in Augusta where a cooker had failed to work correctly and kill the contaminant.
Recently, the company was sued by a New Mexico woman claiming the poisoned chili killed her and her brother.
5. McDonald's Serves Salad With Dead Rat
In 2006, Chrissy Haley, wife of Kansas City Chiefs' coach Todd Haley, visited McDonald's with her nanny, only to discover a dead rat hiding in the foliage.
Having already started in on the salad, the two became ill and later sought an apology from the Golden Arches. When none came, the Haleys sued the chain for $1.7 million, leading to an out of court settlement.
4. Arby's Customer Orders Skin Sandwich
In 2005, a man in Tipp City, Ohio filed a $50,000 suit against Arby's. His complaint? He bit into a sandwich only to encounter a small swatch of human flesh. The skin turned out to belong to the manager, who'd sliced his finger while cutting lettuce.
3.Jack-in-the-Box Kills Four With E. Coli
San Diego's Foodmaker Inc. settled dozens upon dozens of claims sparked in 1993 when E. coli spread through hamburger patties at the company's Jack-in-the-Box chain.
Four were killed by the contamination and hundreds were sickened in the Northwest, leading some to call into Jack-in-the-Box restaurants and label employees "baby-Killers"
2. Chi Chi's Hands Out Hep A
In 2005, Chi Chi's Mexican Restaurant began paying out more than $40 million after spreading Hepatitis A to 660 people, four of whom died.
While hundreds of lawsuits resulted, one Richard Miller was awarded $6.5 million after his infection required surgery for a liver transplant.
1. McDonald's Coffee Gives Senior Third-Degree Burns
Perhaps the most famous and misunderstood case in the history of fast food lawsuits, New Mexico's 79-year-old Stella Liebeck suffered third-degree burns on her groin, thighs, and backside, and required skin grafts, after spilling McDonald's coffee that was kept heated at 180-190 degrees on herself in her grandson's car in 1992.
A judge rejected an award to the senior of more than $2.7 million and the matter was later settled out of court. Liebeck, just one of many people claiming serious burns from the chain's scalding hot coffee, was long mocked by a misinformed public for supposedly abusing her right to sue
