What would you do if you got a
chicken head in your box of wings? Answer the Question
of the Day
By Keith Rushing Daily Press
NEWPORT NEWS - Katherine Ortega was looking forward
to eating a chicken dinner after a family outing Tuesday night.
She ordered a box of fried wings from McDonald's and was putting
them on plates for her two children when she found a chicken part
that definitely wasn't a wing.
"I noticed that it had a beak and it had eyes," said Ortega. "I
screamed." The unusual piece turned out to be a fried chicken
head.
Ortega called the McDonald's on Warwick near Hickory Point
Boulevard where she purchased the dinner and told a restaurant
manager about it. She said the manager was pretty
matter-of-fact.
"He said, 'Just bring it back. We'll send it back to the
company,' " Ortega said.
The manager told her that she could have a refund or another box
of wings. But Ortega said she had lost her appetite for chicken.
"There's no way I wanted another chicken box," Ortega said.
Ortega said she fixed grilled cheese sandwiches for her family.
"I will probably cook at home from now on," she said.
Ortega said that although the manager told her she could bring
the chicken head back to the restaurant she told him he could see it
on television.
"I wanted consumers to watch and know what they're eating," she
said. Ortega said several co-workers have told her that she was
correct to alert the public. She said it's taking her a while to get
over the ordeal.
Ortega was unable to sleep Tuesday night, she said.
"I kept thinking about my children eating it," Ortega said.
She said that if she had just let her children dig in, her
youngest child who is 5 years old probably would've bitten the head
without looking at it.
Ortega isn't sure if she'll file a lawsuit. But she said that she
contacted the FDA for advice on handling the incident.
She's also planning to meet with McDonald's officials who want to
know more about the matter.
Ortega wants more information, too. "I just want to know how it
got there," she said.
A manager at the McDonald's where she bought the chicken refused
comment Wednesday night. Corporate officials couldn't be reached for
comment.
