WHO: McDonald’s
WHAT: A woman from Queens, NY took a bite of a McDonald’s apple pie and found a metal screw inside.
WHERE: Screw this! Mom gets big Mac surprise as she chomps on apple pie [Daily News]
THE QUOTE: “Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of my employees and customers,” [McDonald's franchise holder Michael Giunta] said. “We take these matters very seriously.”
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well those apple pies are made at a factory and then frozen until they get to the store. I don’t see how anyone at the location of MacDonalds could have done this.
Do they bake them in the store or at some WacDonalds factory?
Always go to the manager and/or owner of the franchise location with these issues first, then file a complaint with corporate. The store may voluntarily submit to additional inspections to ensure you (and corporate) that it was an isolated incident. It is good to hear that the franchisee is doing what he can to get this cleared up. Trust me, he would rather this not have happened as well.
@Triterion: They bake them at the store.
Screw this? Language like that is ok for a headline as long as one of the possible interpretations of the double entendre is acceptable? Just kidding.
All that stuff is trucked in from commissaries, could be an honest mistake, could be a vindictive employee, could be a scam. Not enough information for me to call, but being the cynic that I am, well, you know.
If you’re going to run a scam though, might as well go the full nine-stick a dead cockroach in their or part of a finger.
there*
From what I’ve learned about McDonalds (various friends working at various levels of the company), you should always complain to the national 800 number. That will ensure that your complaint is logged for future reference. If you just complain to the local store, any continuing trends may get buried.
Of course, you may get better results by going local, but report it to corporate as well!
This doesn’t really surprise me much. I ate McDonalds until one morning about 3 years ago. I got a sausage mcgriddle. Well it had something extra in it…A toenail…or at least it felt like a toenail when I bit into it…Ever since that incident I haven’t been able to think about eating at a McDonalds without getting queasy.
Full Disclosure: I sent it off to their headquarters for analysis after reporting it to their regional manager. McDonalds stated it was “cartilage.” I know what cartilage feels like when you bite into it and this wasn’t it.
It’s ironic how the pat response of “taking it seriously” ensures a Consumerist article, which has the opposite effect of what corporate management intends.
Iron helps us play!
I hope this starts happening more often. I’m going to design and mass produce a pocket sized metal detector for people to use on their food.
J/k, but doesn’t processed food pass through a metal detector before it gets packaged and leave the factory? At least it was on whatever product I saw on “How It’s Made”. It wasn’t a McDonald’s product though I know that.
If it does pass through one, either it failed, or somehow got lodged in there at the store or during shipping or something.
mmmmmmmmm …..
free screw with your apple pie.
Iron-ic
@AMetamorphosis: Last time i got a screw with my apple pie… well.. i guess that’s the entire story.
@blong81
Or the woman put the screw into the pie herself. Occam’s razor. My family ran a restaurant for decades and there were always people willing to try this sort of thing. The things they would add to their food were sometimes absolutely ridiculous. One person chunked in handfuls of glass. I’m not talking about little bits either. It was giant shards of the stuff and then tried to claim that he simply found it in what he was served.
@Shutaro: So what does galvanized steel do for us?
This woman called the cops first. That just makes me laugh. I mean, a screw in your apple pie is an issue but the thought of involving the police first seems bizarre.
I don’t know whats more disturbing, finding a screw in your pie, or SandTigr with a toenail in the mouth
Calling the police seems suspicious, IMO. If I was planning a scam, I’d call the police first so I’d have a legal record of it at the site.
Also, if you bite into a screw, it doesn’t look like that picture does, so it was either placed back in, or it was a setup to begin with.
People complain about everything! Everyone needs a screw now and then.
@RabbitDinner: Actually, if you’re trying to do a scam, using a screw is better than a cockroach or something like that. The Wendy’s finger-in-the-chili deal was revealed to be a scam when investigators noticed the finger hadn’t been cooked. Using something inorganic means it can’t be determined whether it was cooked into the food or put there later.
Once at McDonald’s in Montana my group was served by a young man with a wad of chewing tobacco in his lip. He even spit the juice into a cup he had next to him.
I did not complain to the manager as she was standing right there, rather I called corporate to formally complain. My information was taken down and I explained the incident.
Two weeks later we received a signed letter of apology from the owners of that particular franchise with their assurance that the employee in question had been terminated.
Go corporate. This did not required police intervention.
@Gannoc: I don’t know, I’d probably just spit it out and take it up to the counter and talk to a manager but I could see a young mother with two small kids freaking a bit and calling the police. There is a mind set that some people have (which is in part to the way that its beaten into you anymore) to call the cops when anything happens they can’t deal with on their own. Any officer you talk to is going to have dozens of stories about stupid calls they’ve gotten or been sent on.
This was an extremely unfortunate situation and the woman was not harmed in any way. But, the question remains, how much will she sue for? I’m sure no doubt she has experienced major traumatic and emotional stress from this situation according to all the attornies who contacted her and informed her so.
@Orv: I admit I hadn’t thought of that. My logic was that you should at least go for something gross to garner more sympathy
@Orv: I agree. No matter what, the company ends up looking bad. Wendy’s still hasn’t recovered from the scam.
From my point of view this had to of been done intentionally. From working on the food processing industry I have learned that CCP’s (critical control points) are mandatory. IE: Metal and x-ray checks on all product during the processing, production, and packaging phases.
@linus: No matter the outcome of a case, nothing changes perceptions. And people justify this by saying that “lawyers can get you off for anything.” Which is true, but not fair to people legitimately found not guilty of serious crimes. OT sorry
@JoeTan: This would have been hilarious if they had bought the food at a Kum and Go gas station.
Just be happy that your teeth are still all intact. McD should be happy about that too.
@snoop-blog: They are pre-made, frozen pies that you just throw on a pan and bake so yes, the store bakes them but they are assembled somewhere else.
@Red-headed bookworm: “assembled somewhere else” with great tasting screws!
@stormslanding: LOL everyone has been a kid at some point in their life. Kids put almost everything they can reach into their mouths at some point lol
She is obviously making the story up. Those pies are so hot that anything metal would melt right into the filling and she would never be able to tell. It’d probably fortify the pie with a little RDA of iron too.
@mjane79: that is exactly what I said in thee very first comment of this post. Please read ALL comments before commenting yourself.
@RabbitDinner: The blade cuts both ways too. You can be guilty as hell but if they say your “not guilty”, you’ll still be looked upon as the criminal (read: O.J. Simpson).
Man, I’m just thinking of all the jokes I can make with the words “screw” and “pie”…
@linus: I was going to say that as well. In fact, I submit that it’s cases like that that give criminal defense lawyers a bad name and general cynicism with the judicial process. Hell, people I knew were still talking smack about the Duke lacrosse players even after charges were dropped. There’s a difference between “not guilty” and “innocent.” Sadly, there are people more cynical than even I. But OT.
About three weeks ago I found a nut in my Edy’s Frozen Lemon Bar. Not a tree nut, a stainless steel nylock nut, 1/4 x 20 size. I could tell it was stainless steel because it was just barely reactive to the rare earth magnet on my phone holster.
I contacted Edy’s and told them what was up. They were back in touch with me via email very quickly, very concerned and apologetic. I didn’t call the papers.
Edy’s sent me a bunch of coupons for free Lemon Bars, which is very nice but unnecessary – I would’ve bought the bars regardless. They’re the best in the store.
Ah well, a screw got into a pie. I try not to tell everyone they might all want one. Seriously, call McDonalds let them know, give them the packaging (maybe they can trace it) and accept their apology. It’s food made by a machine, it’s gonna sometimes get a bit of machine in it. At least it wasn’t a piece of crap or something disgusting.
RE: the screw in the McDonald’s apple pie story:
Those pies are made by a company called Bama Pies. Incidentally, this is the same company that makes the KFC Apple Turnovers, so watch out for errant hardware in those too.
My solution to this problem has been not giving McDonalds a single penny for over 20 years. Y’all should try it, it works.
@AgentTuttle: Wow, you’re really sticking it to the man, you internet tough guy.
@AgentTuttle: Considering they’re still around and bigger than ever, I guess you withholding your pennies didn’t work after all. :/
@enderx: I guess I just have principles, but life is too short to eat bad food. Y’all enjoy your nuts, bolts, happy meals and potatoes disguised as apples.
@Applekid: You’re right. I guess I’ll write them a check for a few grand to make up for the lost time. I’ll go put on my sheep outfit now.
@blong81: When I worked a cheese plant the cheese would go through multiple metal detectors throughout the production. Even right after it was packaged it was run through it’s final metal detector test.
This happened to me with a chicken tender from Burger King. I was about twelve at the time. My parents called Burger King immediately. I had to go to the dentist to get a tooth pulled and everything. It was settled out of court; they paid for all of my dentist bills and I got a couple thousand dollars.
heh, that’s what you get for eating at freaking McDonalds.
I bet she’ll be buying her own groceries and learning how to cook pretty fast, these days.
She will sue for 100 billion dollars.
To anyone who cares to know, all of the pies sold at mcdonalds are made at a factory in tulsa, ok. This company also makes all their bisquits. Mcdonalds is not their soul customer though. They also supply items to taco bell, wal-mart, pizza hut, olive garden, kfc and others. This is common place in factories, they usually supply to a lot of companies that most people thought were competitors. In today’s market you are in great error blaming the particular restaurant you purchased something from.