Welp! This gives a whole new meaning to the
phrase “finger food.” On Monday, Allison Cozzi filed a lawsuit against Chopt after she reportedly found a human finger in her salad on April 7, 2023, CBS News reports.
According to the filing, “she was chewing on a portion of a human finger that had been mixed in to, and made a part of, the salad.” The manager of the fast casual chain had reportedly severed a piece of her left finger on accident while chopping arugula and was later treated at a nearby hospital. The suit claims that the contaminated arugula was served anyway.
Cozzi claims she has suffered shock, panic attacks, migraines, cognitive impairment, nausea, dizziness, and neck and shoulder pain as a result of the incident, and is seeking an undisclosed monetary reward as a result.
In an email to NBC, Cozzi’s attorney, Mar Reibman, said that his client does not wish to comment further on the lawsuit. “She does not want to increase the stress and anxiety that this incident has caused her,” Reibman said. “As a matter of common sense and public interest, the failure to supervise the preparation and service of food in a manner that protects the public is a blatant deviation from accepted safe practice and deserves significant compensation.”
While Chopt has not commented on the lawsuit or controversy, the Westchester County Health Department records report that the restaurant was fined $900 as a result of the finger salad.
Naturally, the internet had plenty to say on the topic too. “It’s not named chopt for nothing,” one user wrote on. “Everybody loves chopt til they go and chop some shit,” another joked.
This is hardly the first time incident like this has happened. A 2016 lawsuit claimed a pregnant California woman found a bloody fingertip in her Applebee’s salad. In 2012, a Michigan teen reportedly discovered a knuckle in his Arby’s roast beef sandwich, and an IHOP customer found a severed fingertip in her fried chicken green salad in 2010.