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Last update: Tuesday, 03-Jul-01 08:08:38.

Mcdonald's Sued for Maggot-Infested Cheeseburger

DETROIT (Reuters) - An 11-year old Detroit boy filed a $1 million lawsuit against fast food giant McDonald's Corp on Monday after he allegedly ate part of cheeseburger that was infested with maggots, his lawyer said.

The boy, Vincent Ingram, discovered the maggots after chomping into the cheeseburger at home on June 19, said the attorney, Arnold Reed.

``His sister is standing next to him and starts freaking out, because she sees these things crawling around his mouth and out of his mouth. She starts screaming,'' Reed told Reuters in an interview.

Reed said Ingram swallowed at least half a dozen of the maggots. As evidence, his mother saved the rest of the cheeseburger and the boy's vomit.

``Since this incident, he's been freaking out. He won't eat,'' Reed added.

The lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court in Michigan says Ingram ate the cheeseburger shortly after it was bought, but does not specify in what amount of time.

McDonald's in a statement called the allegations ''questionable,'' and said it had not received any facts to back up the claims.

``We have not been provided with any evidence to validate this claim,'' the company's statement said.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2001

Answers

This story makes me go Hmmmm. . . .

On the one hand, I know that there are some seriously unwrapped fast food employees who do terrible stuff to food.

On the other hand, maggots would not be on a freshly grilled burger. Would this boy bite into a cold burger?

On the third hand. . .

Wait! I'm no alien. I only have two hands! (:

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2001

My experience with maggots comes more from horse shit than hamburgers, but this IS McDonalds ;)

Fly eggs take several hours to hatch (something like 4 to 12 hours). Newly hatched maggots are extremely small and would never be noticed in a sandwich. Maggots large enough to be "wiggling in and out of his mouth" would have to be again several hours old.

If a fly laid an egg on the burger, and it survived the cooking, it would have to sit, uneaten, for at least eight hours before noticeabe maggots would be present.

The maggots could have been present on the bun...or an employee found them on something else and figured he'd boost the protein content a bit...or the family faked it for the money...or an evil sibling found them and decided to play a joke and blamed it on the restaurant rather than 'fess up.

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2001

Here's a question -- how about white wormy things in bananas, under the skin? My daughter found them twice recently, is so grossed out. In all these years I have never had this happen before. I notice that recently it is getting harder to tell the ripeness of a banana by the color, so I figure a different strain is becoming more prevalent. Thus something more inclined to host a wiggler?

-- Anonymous, July 03, 2001