Mary Elizabeth Smith: Woman sues after claiming she found human finger in her cafe-bought chicken wrap
A woman says she has been left “permanently traumatised” after biting off more than she bargained for in a shop-bought chicken wrap.
Luxury real estate agent Mary Elizabeth Smith claims it also contained a human fingertip, complete with nail.
She says the stray piece of digit was in her mouth before she realised something was seriously wrong.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.A DNA test later proved the remains were human and from a female, and the 43-year-old is now suing the Queens, New York cafe she bought it from, Create and its owners Ditmars Bake LLC.
Her lawyer Robert Menna said when Ms Smith bit into the wrap she “could tell something wasn’t right, and spit it out”.
“It was horrifying for her,” the New York Post reports.
Ms Smith, who works for the Corcoran Group in New York, says she took the fingertip to a walk-in clinic near the cafe after the incident in November 2023.
She then had to undergo intense antiretroviral treatment to ensure she did not contract any deadly diseases from the severed finger.
In her suit filed in the New York County Supreme Court on August 7, Ms Smith alleges the cafe should have known that its product was “dangerous to members of the general public”.
“This has left me very cautious about anything that I am eating,” Ms Smith said.
“It took me a really long time to work up the courage to eat chicken again. Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen.”
Mr Menna told TMZ said the finger could have come from the food processing plant or the distributor where they get the food “but it’s still (the cafe’s) obligation and duty to inspect the food they’re serving”.
“Even if it didn’t come directly from an employee, it’s still their restaurant and food and their responsibility to uphold their standards.”
Create’s owner Teddy Karagiannis has strongly refuted Ms Smith’s allegations calling them “ludicrous” and says there were no female employees working in the prep line on the day Ms Smith bought the wrap.
He suggested she could have picked the fingertip up off the street.
“You’d have a better chance of hitting the lotto twice in one day than someone (at Create) not noticing a piece of finger,” he told the Post. “It’s ridiculous.”
