12.feb.07
The Telegram (St. John's, Canada)
Brenda Matchim of St. Phillip's was cited as saying she discovered a shiny, clear object, about half an inch long, that looked like a shard of glass or hard plastic in a McDonald's hotcake last weekend, adding, "I was shocked," Matchim told The Telegram. "I could have been seriously injured."
Matchim and her husband took the hotcakes back to McDonald's on Kenmount Road, where she had bought them, and asked to speak to the manager.
He refunded Matchim the cost of her meal, and told her the object would be sent away to the restaurant's quality assurance department in Toronto for analysis, and someone would contact her.
The next day, Matchim got a phone call from a McDonald's district manager.
"The first thing she said was, 'Were you hurt?'" Matchim said. "I told her I thought I might have swallowed part of the object because I had been having mild stomach cramps and trouble sleeping since I ate part of the pancake."
Matchim then asked if, once the analysis was done on the object, she could have it back.
"In case I'm not satisfied with the final outcome of their investigation, and I want to pursue it further," she explained.
She was told the object may have to be crushed in order to determine what it is and exactly where it came from.
"I'm afraid they'll just get rid of it and that will be it," she said.
Cathy Bennett, owner of Bennett Restaurants, which operates the Kenmount Road McDonald's and eight other restaurants in the St. John's area, was cited as saying McDonald's pancakes are manufactured by an out-of- province supplier, and that McDonald's food safety standards are much higher than what is required by the industry and by government, adding, "Any time that we have an alleged item in one of our products, on the extremely rare occasion that that happens, we implement a rigorous investigation with our quality assurance team out of our Toronto office, working in conjunction with our supplier partner.
Bennett said because of the extent of the testing, she cannot guarantee the integrity of the object once it's done.
