A Greenwich, Connecticut, woman is suing chopped salad chain Chop’t Creative Salad Company after alleging that she found a severed finger inside her salad bowl.
“While she was eating the salad, she realized that she was chewing on a portion of a human finger that had been mixed into, and made part of, the salad,” per the lawsuit, filed in Westchester County Supreme Court in New York on Monday.
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The incident reportedly took place on April 7, 2023, at a Mount Kisco, New York, location of the chain.
The lawsuit states that while on the clock, a manager working at the salad station “chopped off” (no pun intended) part of her left pointer finger while slicing arugula and went to the hospital.
The salad counter at a Chop’t restaurant in Washington, DC (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
However, the contaminated arugula was allegedly not disposed of properly and subsequently served to customers.
“As a matter of common sense and public interest, the failure to supervise the preparation and service of food in a manner that protects the public is a blatant deviation from accepted safe practice and deserves significant compensation,” Marc Reibman, the woman’s lawyer, told local outlet the Greenwich Times.
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In the lawsuit, the woman (who is choosing to remain anonymous) alleges she is suffering from injuries, including panic attacks and shock. It has not been specified how much she is seeking in compensation.
The salad chain, founded in 2011 in Manhattan, went viral in the summer of 2014 when a customer allegedly found a dead rat inside a wrap. The company issued an apology and reports blamed a disgruntled employee.
Records from the Westchester County Health Department Board of Health in September 2023 show that the restaurant was fined $900 for failing to comply with standards and producing a health hazard to customers.
Chop’t did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur‘s request for comment.
