Wendy’s Customer Bites into Human Finger in Her Chili

By Linda Orlando

A Las Vegas woman will probably never refer to fast food as "finger food" again. Tuesday night Anna Ayala, 39, went to San Jose to drop off her in-laws who had been visiting. Although she claims to be more of a Carl’s Jr. person, the family decided to stop at Wendy’s since Anna had never visited one before. It’s unlikely that she will again, because they had just begun eating when Anna scooped a spoonful of chili into her mouth and bit down on something that definitely wasn’t hamburger. "Suddenly something crunchy was in my mouth," Ayala said, "and I spit it out." She and her tablemates examined it closely to determine what it was, and then the vomiting began.

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Martin Fenstersheib confirmed that the Monterey Highway Wendy’s in San Jose does indeed serve finger-licking good food--the object Ayala had nibbled on really was a human finger. "Initially she did put this object in her mouth and did bite down on it and wasn’t sure exactly what it was," Fenstersheib said of the incident. "She’s doing okay. Initially she was a bit grossed out, it was described to me, and she vomited a number of times." Fenstersheib added that Ayala would likely suffer no health problems because the finger was not decomposed, and it had been safely cooked at a high enough temperature to kill any viruses.

Police and county health officials temporarily closed the Wendy’s and seized all the ingredients at the restaurant to determine what happened. Officials counted all the fingers of the Wendy’s workers, but no one there was missing any. "We had everyone kind of show us they had ten fingers, and everything was okay there," said Ben Gale, director of the county's Department of Environmental Health. Authorities think the finger had to have come from one of Wendy’s suppliers. The finger was about an inch and a half long, and supposedly belongs to a woman because it has a half-inch long manicured nail on its tip.

While confirming that it was a finger, the county medical examiner, Joseph O’Hara, also discovered that it had a solid set of fingerprints. So police may be able to lift a print from the finger, run it through their database, and match the print to a partially fingered person--and then, of course, ask them what happened. O’Hara thinks it probably happened on a meat grinder, since the end opposite the fancy nail had been chopped off with a jagged cut. The idea was proposed that the finger had been planted in the chili by someone who wants to cash in on a civil suit against Wendy’s for grossing them out, but O’Hara is skeptical. "That’s certainly plausible," he said, "but then, where would she have gotten the finger?"

All parties involved say they’ve never encountered anything like this. The restaurant has had only one minor health violation prior to this, involving a leaky vent. Wendy’s says that in the fast-food chain’s 35 years in business, a body part has never showed up in the food. In fact, Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas always used to claim "Quality is our recipe," not fingers. "Food safety is of utmost importance to us," said Wendy’s spokesman Joe Desmond in a statement. "We are cooperating fully with the local police and health departments with their investigation. It's important not to jump to conclusions. Here at Wendy's we plan to do right by our customers."

You’ve got to give Wendy’s a hand for doing right by their customers. Just don’t give them a finger, or it might end up in the chili.