It’s disgusting, but a reminder anyone in the food biz is only as good as their worst front-line employee.

The New York Daily News reports a South Carolina McDonald's worker served customers some Sweet Tea with a side of phlegm.

The incident happened on Saturday when a mother and daughter noticed their tea wasn't sweetened and returned their drinks in exchange for the correct order, police told WYFF-TV.

When their teas were returned, the duo saw their order wasn't correct again and were heading home to add their own sweetener. But when they looked in the drink, they noticed both had an stomach-turning side of phlegm floating on top.

Instead of going back to McDonald's, they went straight to the police station.

"It's a health issue," Greenville County Sheriff Deputy Laura Campbell told the TV station. "When it becomes bodily fluids you know people have all kinds of contagious viruses and diseases."

Cops nabbed 19-year-old Marvin D. Washington Jr. and charged him with unlawful and malicious tampering of the food, according to the report.

In a statement to the TV station, the franchise owner of that McDonald's location said his restaurant "has the most stringent food safety and quality standards" and urged customers not to jump to conclusions.

"Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well being of my customers," he added.

Calgary’s Oakridge Co-op had to take several drastic - and costly - measures over a two-month period last year as a result of food tampering incidents, manager Al Madsen testified on Thursday.

Madsen said from the first discovery of food products with pins and nails in them, on Jan. 18, 2010, until a suspect, Tatyana Granada (right), was arrested on March 16, 2010, about a dozen surveillance cameras were installed to go along with the two or three cameras in place in January.

He said some cameras were installed with the knowledge of staff after the January incidents and several more strategically located cameras were "installed surreptitiously after staff left," following further tampering incidents on Feb. 17.

Madsen said the cost of the new cameras was between $35,000 and $40,000.

He told Crown prosecutor Martha O'Connor at Granada's trial that the store was closed at least twice to conduct entire grid searches for tampered products.

Madsen said the pattern of tampering was consistent through January, where pins and nails were placed in fresh foods in the cheese, deli, bakery and produce sections. Still, the Co-op and police were stymied.

Madsen said undercover security officers were hired to be on the lookout at all times for possible tampering by customers or staff.

Following yet another rash of discoveries of food items with pins in them on March 11, 2010, the manager said it was decided not to close the store again, but to have cashiers inform all customers at checkouts to be vigilant about checking any food products for tampering.

That day, the bulk food bins were dumped out and because the store could not ensure safety of customers, $9,000 worth of food was thrown out.

It was around that time that assistant manager Chris Goode identified Granada as having been barred from the Co-op stores in December 2009 for shoplifting.

Madsen said he reviewed video surveillance of Granada's entire shopping trip from March 10, 2010, and outlined her route and where she stopped.

Granada, 44, is on trial for three counts of mischief causing property damage and five counts of trespassing, for entering Oakridge Co-op. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Madsen said no further tampered products have been found since Granada's arrest.

We had some dinner at our favorite local haunt last night, partly because going out tonight on St. Patrick’s Day with a 2-year-old may be dumb.

I had been reading about a New Mexico woman who says a sewing needle pierced her tongue after she bit into a plate of ribs and mashed potatoes at a Chili's restaurant and thought, I wouldn’t want to run a restaurant. Too much vulnerability.

The NM woman says she pulled a needle about 2-inches long from her mouth at the Chili's in Farmington last July. The 23-year-old says Chili's employees quickly took the needle, and a manager refused to give it back when she and her husband returned to request it for testing.

Consumers, if you want to pursue a legitimate claim, do not give the food or item to the restaurant – take it to the local health unit.

Restaurant owners – don’t hesitate to call on the forensic expertise of the state; they often have the expertise to separate accident from extortion.

The NM woman further said she's suing the Chili's chain because the company took 52 days to send the needle to a lab. She says she's since tested clean for HIV, hepatitis and other possible infections, but had to stop nursing her baby in the meantime.

Representatives of Chili's Restaurant and Grill and Chili's Inc. declined to comment.

Ron Ruggless writing in Nation’s Restaurant News, says that restaurateurs who find themselves with customers claiming to have discovered foreign objects in their food face a fine line between hospitable communications and legal cautions.

A public relations professional who asked not to be identified because many clients are restaurant chains, said any foodservice operation can benefit from training staff to deal with complaints immediately as they arise, as well as consulting legal counsel.

Michael Heenan, a corporate crisis consultant and owner of Heenan Communications in Sacramento, Calif., said,

“What I tell clients is that in the midst of a crisis, when everyone’s anxiety is high and everyone’s defensiveness is high and there are personal hurt feelings about the safety of the product or the reputation of your company, that is not the time to find out what the dynamic is within your company.”

For independent operators without a corporate infrastructure, Heenan said the job is much more sensitive. “If you are doing it more or less on your own,” he said, “it’s asking a lot. It’s a very stressful environment.”

“The usual mistakes are of the brittle, defensive and unsympathetic nature. If you do nothing else as an individual owner, remember that you must put aside your anger and remember how poorly that looks to the rest of the world. They need to see how concerned you are.”
 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Nestlé Canada Inc. are advising the public that some cans of powdered infant formula found in the Nepean, Ontario area have been tampered with.

Three cans of Nestlé Good Start Iron Fortified Infant Formula, 900g size,
UPC: 0 65000 36614 3, have been found to contain a powder which appears to be flour. These cans were found at the following retail locations: Your Independent Grocer on Strandherd Drive and Sobeys on Greenbank Drive in Nepean, Ontario.

There has been one reported illness associated with the consumption of this product.

Consumers using powdered infant formula products should look under the plastic lid of the cans and ensure the metal/foil top is sealed properly. The CFIA is conducting an investigation and the case has been referred to the police.