A Dooli , A Fast Food and Xaliimo

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan...

 

I followed this particular case the last five years, occasionally resurfacing on the media. I read this piece on Toronto Star's paper edition on last Thursday morning. Since the online version won't last more than a week, I therefore couldn't resist not sharing.

Family sues after rodent's head found in Big Mac

McDonald's denies negligence in food handling

It was a mixture of curiosity and discomfort as everyone assembled around the hood of the car, staring at the box containing a Big Mac.

 

According to witnesses, Heath Miller, an assistant manager at the McDonald's at Highway 401 and Weston Rd., opened the box and lifted the bun.

 

"I saw what looked to me like a mouse or rat," Richard Zeppa, a Toronto kinesiologist who unwittingly found himself in the middle of the bizarre scene, recalled in a statement read into the record for a court proceeding.

 

"The mouse looked like it was browned or grilled or something," added Halima Jama, who worked with Zeppa at a medical clinic on Dixon Rd.

 

"It kind of looked like a rodent's head," said Miller, who inspected the burger following a customer complaint. He offered his description in transcripts filed with the Superior Court of Justice.

 

In short order, the rodent went from a freezer to a laboratory to the centre of a $17.5 million lawsuit, which is winding its way through court nearly six years after the June 24, 1999 incident.

 

Few details have emerged until now. But the transcripts, filed in connection with an upcoming court hearing, flesh out some of the allegations and defences in the case, including competing theories of how the rat got in the burger.

 

The controversy began when Jama's younger sister, Ayan Abdi Jama, then 9, arrived at the fast-food restaurant with her mother and ordered a Big Mac.

 

A few bites into her lunch, the Grade 4 student says she told her mother "there was something wrong with the burger."

 

"The texture. Like, it didn't feel right," she would say later.

 

A statement of claim filed on behalf of Ayan alleges she was served a Big Mac containing the severed head of a rat, "complete with eyes, teeth, nose and whiskers."

 

The incident caused enduring trauma and an emotional reaction that will likely reduce Ayan's ability to pursue gainful employment, the claim alleges, adding she suffers from panic, anxiety and fear of eating in public places. Her mother, Noora Mohamad, and younger sister, Laila Jama, who are also claiming damages, have suffered as well, the claim contends.

 

In a statement of defence, McDonald's denies the allegations, including any claim the company was negligent or that the family was in any way injured. No trial has taken place, but several procedural issues, including the scope of the lawsuit, have worked their way up to the Ontario Court of Appeal.

 

Last week, on the eve of a hearing before the appeal court, both sides agreed McDonald's Corp., the chain's U.S. parent, would be cut out of the case.

 

It's still proceeding against McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Ltd. and Miller, now a York Region police officer.

 

In July, the Superior Court is expected to hear a motion from the plaintiffs, who want McDonald's to produce further documents, including reports of investigations by the restaurant and its insurance company.

 

The transcripts filed in support of the motion provide a window into recent pre-trial "examinations for discovery" — hearings that are normally out of public view, where witnesses are questioned by the other side's lawyers. One exhibit from the hearings is listed as "Photograph of Big Mac with rodent's head inside."

 

The family alleges one or more employees of the restaurant at 2625 Weston Rd. inserted it into the hamburger and that the outlet had failed to implement proper security measures, leaving it vulnerable to food tampering.

 

Last August, the family asked McDonald's to agree in writing that neither Mohamad nor her daughters had anything to do with planting the rodent in the sandwich. The company declined.

 

A month earlier, when McDonald's quality systems manager Rob Freeman was questioned under oath, company lawyer Christopher Dunn said the restaurant had no proof the family had committed a fraud.

 

"Is McDonald's alleging that one or more of the plaintiffs is responsible for staging this incident? ... I just want to know once and for all," asked Ted Charney, a lawyer representing the family.

 

"At this stage, McDonald's is not making any allegation that your client staged this incident," Dunn said. "McDonald's has no evidence at this point in time."

 

As with any good murder case, opportunity is an issue — in this case, opportunity to plant a rat.

 

McDonald's witnesses spoke of how each franchise is subject to unannounced inspections. They also spent much time with Charney discussing "chain of custody" of the typical hamburger, which, according to company standards, should take no longer than 36 seconds to assemble. Precooked patties are thrown out after 30 minutes.

 

Witnesses also acknowledged that security cameras in each restaurant are generally trained on the public areas and the safe, and that staff could theoretically take food into their locker room, insert something, then return the product to the kitchen.

 

McDonald's launched an investigation the day of the incident, but takes the position the results are privileged.

 

"Did you give any thought to trying to figure out whether any of your staff members could have planted this rat head in the burger?" Charney asked Miller, the former assistant manager.

 

"Don't answer that question," Dunn said.

 

Mohamad said Ayan had an afternoon dental appointment on June 24 and asked her mother if they could stop at McDonald's for lunch. After her daughter asked her to look at the Big Mac and she noticed what appeared to be a clump of hair, Mohamad said she "panicked" and phoned two of her other daughters, Zahra and Halima, while Ayan was throwing up.

 

In a statement, Halima Jama said she asked Zeppa and another co-worker to accompany her to the restaurant and Zeppa drove all three of them in his car.

 

Miller said he contacted McDonald's customer relations department for guidance and attempted to take the Big Mac to the company's head office on Don Mills Rd. for analysis. He couldn't drive everyone himself because of "liability" issues and the family ended up taking the burger away with them.

 

It ended up back at the clinic where Halima Jama worked. A doctor in the building took photographs later that afternoon.

 

The family wasted no time in pursing a lawsuit, Dunn suggested. "Your client walked out the door and told us that we would hear from her lawyer," he told Charney at the hearings.

 

Mohamad said she spoke later on June 24 with Charney, who arranged to have the burger examined at a lab. Among other things, the lab looked at "staining" on the patty to determine if the head was cooked at the same time. The Toronto Star reported in 2001 that lab results showed the head was slipped in later.

 

[Janna]

Thank-god I don't eat at McDonald's.

[lol]

Maskiin macruuf: Walee adigaa..... Hibo Big mac lee fastfood ka cuntaa ee ku *** aa lagu dhahay haye.............I swear man that was the only fastfood burger I liked...........damn....Now there it goes...

 

I guess Halimos are not that dumb after...

[Tuujiye]

Waraa Maskin marax yahoo waan ogahay in ee kuu xisaabsan yihiin maalmaha raqiiska ah..lol..

Mcdonald is our iskaabulo life sxb..ha iga ceynina....mcchicken is the ish..lol..

 

Wareer Badanaa!!!

[nuune]

it is only one rat, that doesn't mean all BIG-MACS got rats in them!

 

 

I heard the fries whatever chips in Mcdonald is made of flowers, I was told last week, no wonder it is tasteless, I never lliked their chips,

[Sky]

the hell with big mac. mcchicken is the bomb. i once ate 5 mcchickens at once. mcnuggets also has special place in my stomach.

 

feel sorry for that lil kid tho. but i guess the millions will cheer her up.

[VisiT]

One Big Mac? You want a rat with that?

[Baluug]

Shouldn't be eating that xaraam krap anyways

[dawoco]

MMA, u mean mean meaaaan man, was that article necesary? I'm turning a disturbing shade of green after reading this topic.

[Qac Qaac]

waxa aad ogeen kuma dhibaan, ee iska cun duqa..