Man Sues Burger King Over Needles In Burger (Mealbreakers)

Mealbreaker (n.): a nasty, non-edible surprise found in food while it is being eaten; often lawsuit-provoking, sometimes fabricated, always disgusting.

HONOLULU (Associated Press) -- A Hawaii-based soldier who says he swallowed needles that were hidden in a Burger King hamburger is suing the fast food chain.

Army Staff Sgt. Clark Bartholomew filed the federal lawsuit in Honolulu this week. He says he bought a Triple Stacker burger at a Schofield Barracks Burger King in December and took it home to eat.

Bartholomew claims one needle pierced his tongue and he was hospitalized for six days after another needle was found in his small intestine.

A manager at the Burger King on Kolekole (KOH'-le-KOH'-le) Avenue declined to comment Friday, and a spokesman for Burger King Corp. said he couldn't immediately comment.

Click through the slideshow below to learn about 20 other stomach-turning Mealbreakers:

• McFeather In McNugget

  In March 2012, a woman claims she found a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/20/mcnugget-has-feather_n_1367461.html?ref=food&ir=Food" target="_hplink">McFeather in her McNugget.</a>

• Animal Toe In Spinach Artichoke Dip

  Andrew Brodsky, 35, found an unidentified animal toe</a> in his container of Sabra Spinach & Artichoke dip.

• Coil In Fried Chicken

  In January 2012, fifty-year-old bus driver Lajzer Grynsztajn claims he <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/man-swallows-2-inch-coil_n_1242472.html?1330621038" target="_hplink">nearly choked to death</a> on such a coil after ordering two chicken breasts and fries from JFK Fried Chicken in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. <em>Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrea_nguyen/6242324853/sizes/z/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr user: Andrea_Nguyen</a></em>

• Mouse In Big Mac Buns

  In January 2011, a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/mouse-in-big-mac_n_1210372.html?" target="_hplink">mouse got trapped in a bag of Big Mac buns</a> at a Philadelphia McDonald's.

• Whopper Spit Case

  A deputy sheriff alleges that someone spit in his Whopper...and the case has made it to the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/whopper-spit-case-edward-bylsma_n_1200044.html" target="_hplink">Supreme Court</a> as of January 2012.

• Semen In Yogurt

  A grocery store worker <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/semen-tainted-yogurt-anthony-garcia_n_998868.html" target="_hplink">pleaded guilty to handing out a semen-tainted yogurt sample</a> at an Albuquerque market.

• Fingertip In Applebee's Salad

  Louisiana woman Mary Deal Chambers-Johnson sued Applebee's for damages after she claimed a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/08/fingertip-applebees-salad_n_954530.html" target="_hplink">fingertip in her lunch salad</a> gave her post-traumatic stress disorder.

• Fly In Yogurt

  A Chinese woman found a fly in her yogurt in July 2011. When she asked for compensation, the manufacturer asked her <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/11/mealbreakers-yogurt-fly-autopsy_n_924617.html" target="_hplink">to prove that the fly had died before she opened the container -- by getting the insect autopsied</a>. (Flies can not be autopsied.)

• Bloody Bandaid In Pizza Hut Pizza

  An upstate New York man found <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/01/mealbreakers-bandaid-pizza-hut_n_915489.html#s319946&title=Disemboweled_Mouse_In" target="_hplink">a bloody bandaid in baked into the crust of his Pizza Hut pizza</a> in June of 2011. He sued after the company failed to address his concerns.

• Disemboweled Mouse In Packaged Salad

  A couple found <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/30/mealbreakers-mouse-salad-blt-blood_n_887882.html" target="_hplink">a disembowled mouse in their Dole packaged salad mix</a> in June 2011. They'd already started eating the salad by the time they found the mealbreaker; they promptly vomited.

• Human Blood On BLT & Fries

  Cancer survivor Susan Mosher was outraged after she found <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/30/mealbreakers-bloodied-blt_n_888559.html" target="_hplink">human blood on her BLT and fries</a> at a Cracker Barrel in Kingwood, TX, in late June of 2011.

• Caterpillar In Weight Watchers Cake

  A dieting woman found a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008450/Dieter-finds-live-caterpillar-Weight-Watchers-snack.html?ITO=1490" target="_hplink">live caterpillar crawling on a Weight Watchers-brand slice of packaged cake</a> in June 2011. She called it gross enough to put her off of cake forever.

• Razor Blade in Wal-Mart Ice Cream

  An East Texas woman found <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeBUII0VFKk" target="_hplink">a razor blade in a carton of Walmart ice cream</a> in February 2011. Considering the danger, she was surprisingly understanding. She told CBS, "I think it's just one of those random accidents that happen. When you make that much of a product and that many products, you're bound to have a machine break."

• Green Pill In Trail Mix

  A Salt Lake City teen was hospitalized after biting into <a href="http://www.abc4.com/content/news/taking_action/story/Salt-Lake-teen-finds-mysterious-capsule-inside/zQSjtTghzEW7b8yHORpxBQ.cspx" target="_hplink">a mysterious green pill in a bag of trail mix</a> she'd bought at Whole Foods in January 2011. The teen felt numbness and pain throughout her throat. Whole Foods recalled the product from stores around Utah.

• Condom In French Onion Soup

  A California man claimed to find <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534460,00.html" target="_hplink">a condom in his French onion soup</a> at a Clam Jumper restaurant, also in July 2009. The restaurant's PR firm said that they found no evidence of wrongdoing after conducting an investigation of the matter.

• Used Tampon In Steak

  In July 2009, a German tourist claimed to find <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=6914735" target="_hplink">a used tampon in his steak</a> at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York.

• Dead Mouse In Bread

  In 2009, a man from Bath, UK found <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/30/dead-mouse-found-in-bread-photo_n_745069.html" target="_hplink">a dead mouse in a loaf of bread</a>.

• Paperclips In Muffins

  At the height of the Beijing Olympics, reporters pounced on the Chinese food industry after <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/muffins-spur-beijing-scare/story-e6freoof-1111116061193" target="_hplink">athletes found paperclips in muffins served them at an official function</a>. The story's most surprising revelation may just be that Olympic athletes eat muffins.

• Live Bullet In Hot Dog

  No one said hot dogs promote longevity, but it's not like eating a frankfurter is as dangerous as someone sticking a gun in your face--unless your name is Olivia Chaines and you're eating it Costco. The then-31-year-old had <a href="http://www.clickorlando.com/news/3274884/detail.html" target="_hplink">swallowed a piece of a Hebrew National brand hotdog</a> in the shopping aisle of a Costco in May 2004 before she realized that it contained a piece of metal. X-rays revealed that the hot dog had contained a live bullet.

• Semen In Spicy Tuna Sushi Sauce

  A New York woman <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/05/mealbreakers-semen-sushi_n_919778.html#s323488&title=Bloody_Bandaid_In" target="_hplink">sued a sushi bar after she tasted semen in the sauce atop her spicy tuna</a> in June 2008; she says she still has samples frozen in her refrigerator.

• Rodent Tooth In Planter's Peanuts

  In 2006, a 52-year-old man from Illinois sued Kraft Foods for $55,000 to compensate for the physical and emotional distress he suffered after allegedly biting into <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12843428/" target="_hplink">a "non-human animal tooth" in a container of Planter's Peanuts</a>.

• Gold Tooth In Mars Bar

  Finding <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2010/03/wonka-candy-launches-a-real-life-golden-ticket-contest/1" target="_hplink">a golden ticket in your candy bar</a> is great. But a gold tooth? Not so much. That's what happened to <a href="http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/1694237.print/" target="_hplink">a 62-year-old British man in September of 2007</a>. He contacted Mars to try and receive compensation, but got no substantive response.

• Human Skin In Chicken Sandwich

  Kitchen accidents happen. Knives are sharp; sometimes a cook will slice off a piece of skin the course of an evening. It's understandable. Not understandable? Failing to clean up the product of an accident. That, apparently, is what happened at an Ohio Arby's in June 2007, when a man found <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7634321/" target="_hplink">a piece of human skin sitting on the lettuce in his chicken sandwich</a>. The man sued, refusing a settlement that Arby's initially offered him.

• Mouse In Popeye's Fried Chicken

  A Baltimore man was eating <a href="http://www.wbaltv.com/r/2512486/detail.html" target="_hplink">fried chicken from Popeye's in September of 2003</a> when he discovered that the fast food store had inadvertently fried a mouse along with the chicken parts.

• Syringe In Burger King Burger

  In June of 2001, 22-year-old Angelina Cruz bit into a burger from Burger King--and <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2001/07/28/2001-07-28_fast-food_customer__i_bit_ne.html" target="_hplink">got pricked in the tongue by a syringe</a>. Citing HIV fears, she sued the chain for $9 million.

Comments

[Joe Browneye]

04:38 AM on 10/24/2011

How would someone not notice a live bullet in a hot dog? Did she just swallow the piece whole? What happened to chewing food?

[browniiz]

08:11 PM on 10/23/2011

I once had a very long legged spider floating around in pieces in my Arizona Green Tea. After my second phone call someone came to see me. He took the bottle and gave me 500.00. To this day, almost 20 years later, I get the heebie jeebies when I see Arizona brand drinks

[tulips1]

03:48 PM on 10/17/2011

Some of these just seem too far fetched to believe.

[cyndinca]

01:44 PM on 10/17/2011

How many customers have swallowed buttons I wonder?

[PCOLAPAUL]

01:39 PM on 10/17/2011

The yougurt incident the store employee readily admitted to tainting the product. The case of the finger in the salad, the person who got caught realized he was cut and feverishly looked for where the tip of his finger went - it was not intentional a waitress had picked up the salads right about the time he cut the tip of his finger off. the needles in pepis cans or coke cans all of those claims have been proven false, the bottling process precludes the introduction of foreign material in the bottling process. The mouse in the bread maybe - but could also have been fabricated, the chicken head in the mcnuggets - that one was true. The fried mouse in baltimore it wasn't, the finger in the chili at wendy it wasn't. Yes there have been other claims that foreign objects have been found in Burgers - how ever none of them - none have been proven to be the result corporate negligence. NONE. What is even more sad is that his attorney is going to the media claiming this war hero who was near the pentagon when the plane hit is beyond reproach - well if it was a Burger King out in town - maybe but ON Base - most workers are spouses and children of other military members - highly unlikely one of them thought it would be fun to put a needle in a burger. I think it is a get rich scheme that is

[KIVPossum]

01:31 PM on 10/17/2011

Not buying it. No way pins would get in the meat at the processing plant and doubt any burger flipper would put them in the burger.

[KarateKid]

01:24 PM on 10/17/2011

_Semen has a taste??

[IrieMoon]

01:16 PM on 10/18/2011

Yup.

Every man tastes different, just like every lady tastes different.

[KarateKid]

01:20 PM on 10/18/2011

Can you have it YOUR way?

[mrsfmchavez]

01:15 PM on 10/17/2011

The mouse in the bread, yuck.

[BewilderingBeing]

01:03 PM on 10/17/2011

Im a little on the fence with the "Semen in Spicy Tuna Sushi Sauce" she said she tasted semen.. ROFL at the risk of sounding childish i had no idea semen had a taste that could be immediately identified.. ROFL. She must have had alot of experience with the stuff

[tulips1]

03:52 PM on 10/17/2011

Maybe the taste is not so obvious, but the smell is quite obvious and unique.

[akrazyrunner]

12:59 PM on 10/17/2011

I should have waited until AFTER lunch to read this

[tulips1]

03:54 PM on 10/17/2011

Uugh, that's what I was thinking - especially since I'm having salad today......

[pepper1311]

12:35 PM on 10/17/2011

I liked the slide show, how do prove seamen in your yogurt?

[duhtruth]

01:24 PM on 10/17/2011

You record them singing "Blow the Man Down".

[baxtron]

09:56 AM on 10/17/2011

I though razor blades came standard in most Wal Mart products.

[No7]

07:56 AM on 10/17/2011

They probably fell out of his pocket...or arm...

[dontgiveupamerica]

12:52 AM on 10/17/2011

Doing away with the FDA sounds like a fantastic budget cut

[namaholston]

11:07 PM on 10/16/2011

"Sometimes fabricating?" You think?