Lunchmeat

Cap Cod Times Feb 2, 2000

Thumb part discovered in student's sandwich By MEG MURPHY, Staff Writer

HYANNIS - Barnstable High School students were repulsed at lunchtime Wednesday when a teenager eating a turkey-and-tomato sandwich spat out part of a human thumb.

The partial appendage belonged to a cafeteria worker who had severed the top of her thumb in a vegetable slicer on Tuesday.

By yesterday morning, town health officials had been notified, and the student's parents were calling the Massachusetts Health Department for advice.

The student declined to discuss the matter with a reporter. "There is nothing routine about this. This is the first time we've had a report like this that I know of," said Thomas McKean, director of public health in Barnstable.

Health inspector Donna Miorandi was sent to the scene. She was led to a refrigerator where a chunk of human flesh had been carefully wrapped in paper towel and stored by the staff of Sodxho Marriott Service, the food company that serves the high school.

"It was clear to the inspector that it was a small piece of fingernail and flesh from a right thumb," said McKean. McKean said a cafeteria supervisor told Miorandi that the automatic slicing machine the worker was using when injured had been sanitized and all nearby food thrown out. The machine was used later that afternoon to slice tomatoes that went into the turkey sandwiches for Wednesday's lunch. But when Miorandi asked the woman who cleaned the slicer for a demonstration, the cafeteria worker became flustered. The worker could not take the machine apart and claimed she lost consciousness briefly during the post-accident cleaning. "If someone tells us that she blacked out during the cleaning process, that leads to questions about how well the machine was cleaned," McKean said.

McKean said the Barnstable Board of Health is recommending that Marriott hold training sessions to make sure workers know how to clean equipment and that they understand state law requires them to wear gloves when preparing ready-to-eat foods. "Blood-borne diseases cannot be transmitted through food," said Roseanne Pawelec, spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Health. 'We understand this is very upsetting, but there is no public health risk, and we want to make sure people know that."

This was an "isolated incident" said Andre Ravenelle, assistant superintendent for Barnstable schools. "It is very unfortunate. There is no record of negligence among the cafeteria workers. They have always done a very good job," he said.

Spokesmen for Sodxho Marriott Services said they plan on "reaching out" to the student who ended up with the thumb in her sandwich, as well as running their own internal investigation. "Obviously this is completely unacceptable. We are investigating what happened and we will take appropriate action," said Scott Loretan, senior vice president of operations for the company. Jeanette Jurkiewicz, a Marriott spokeswoman, said she was told by company legal representatives that no similar incident has ever occurred in company history.

Students said they were disgusted by the incident, and some vowed to spend their afternoons at Burger King instead of the school cafeteria. A group of them stood huddled in the school parking lot yesterday afternoon swapping rumors and action plans.

"We are going to pull a boycott of the senior cafeteria food," said student Nick Chamberlain. "Our lunch is our most valuable time and now we have to eat fingers."

"Everybody was talking about it all day," said senior Keara Grier, who said she witnessed the event from a nearby table. Her friend Katelyn Mycock nodded, shaking her head and shuddering at the memory. "It's gross. I feel bad for the lunch ladies, but that is nasty."

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-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), February 02, 2001

Answers

One thumb up!

-- (Ebert@Chi.Trib), February 02, 2001.

Finger food! Ymmmmm

-- Porky (Porky@in.cellblockD), February 02, 2001.

Call me paranoid but I don't eat salads when in Frisco.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), February 03, 2001.

You got a problem with queer salads, gay boy Carlos?

-- (carlos@homophobic.queer), February 03, 2001.