"injury" news and stories

When you bite into a loaf of bread, the thing that you would least expect to find is a rusty nail. A British man found exactly that, however, in a loaf he purchased from an Asda supermarket in Dorset.

Chris Lambie was sitting at the dinner table with his teenage daughter when he discovered the nail. Fortunately, though he actually bit into it, the rusty nail did not cut or injure him in any way.

Lambie contacted the local consumer protection agency and filed a complaint at the store, where he turned in the loaf. The loaf was subsequently lost by the store, which apologized profusely to the man and stated that they will be "calling Mr Lambie to discuss this with him in further detail" while they launch an investigation. The loaf came from a mix that is supplied to Asda and the manufacturer has been contacted, but no similar incidents have been reported.

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There are many instances of non-food items being found in food, far more than the ones we have mentioned here, but did you know that there are dedicated task forces employed by restaurant chains to investigate claims?

When something unfortunate happens in the kitchen, restaurants don't want it to affect the customers' overall experience. If it does, they want to offer a settlement ASAP to show their good will and to keep the story out of the new, if at all possible. Usually employees can verify an incident, as can delivery records, etc. This option is often coupled with a non-disclosure agreement, which means that far fewer incidents make the papers than really happen.

Some of the stories make it into the papers regardless of what the restaurant tries to do and, not infrequently, they inspire copycats. The copycats attempt to plant things in their food and defraud the restaurants, so for every incident that is reported, the company's investigators are called in. Eyewitness testimony and scientific evidence can prove an incident to be fake, as it was in the case with the mouse "found" in soup at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. In these cases, no settlement is offered (though the offenders in this particular example bizarrely tried to get the restaurant to pay them to not admit they tried to defraud them) and the scammers end up serving time.

The incidents are unfortunate, but a finger in your food isn't a crime unless you planted it there. Otherwise, it's just bad PR.

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In home kitchens, cooks have been known to complain about the height of the countertops. If they're too high or too low, you back can hurt after working away for only an hour or two. Imagine, if you will, that you have to work at that uncomfortable counter for hours on end and that will give you a sense of the discomfort that some professional cooks and bakers can feel when they have to work in a kitchen that isn't scaled to suit them.

It is unrealistic to assume that every kitchen can accommodate every chef, or that kitchens must all be custom-built just in case there is both a 5'1" and 6'2" employee working in the same space. The cost would simply be too great. Consequently, kitchens are built to the same standards (33"-36"). Two University of Wisconsin-Stout researchers invented a mobile, adjustable-height kitchen cooktop (with an induction burner) and food prep table that can help make work easier for cooks and still affordable for restaurants. The researchers who invented the cooking table specialize in injury and rehabilitation. They say that the optimal height for a cooking work surface is two inches below the elbow. Working at the correct height can prevent injury and improve efficiency. The tables can range in height from 27"-47," heights that should accommodate 90% of the population. The best part is that the tables adjust automatically at the touch of a button, meaning that the tables remain flat and there is no need to clear off works-in-progress to adjust them.

For now, the patent-pending tables will be aimed at the commercial sector, but there are clearly applications in the private sector, as well.  

[Image Dunn Country News]

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