Woman Chokes On Chicken Bone Pizza, Subsequently Awarded $2.5 Million

It’s been confirmed: chicken bones are not a suitable topping for pizza.

A San Francisco woman has been awarded $2.5 million after suffering from a near-death experience when a chicken bone from a pizza lodged in her throat and pierced her esophagus. A Round Table Pizza franchisee and Foster Poultry Farms are being held responsible and footing the bill 40/60, respectively.

Calla Felicity, 59, was eating a BBQ Chicken Pizza in February 2010, when she accidentally swallowed a 1.2-inch chicken bone. Felicity ended up having 11 surgeries within 33 days during her first hospitalization and to this day speaks with a strained voice two octaves higher than before the injury.

Foster Farms responded to the jury’s decision with the following statement:

“We regret the injuries claimed by Ms. Felicity caused by a chicken bone. The product involved in this case was sold to restaurants as an ingredient and not sold at retail. Foster Farms has maintained an outstanding food safety record for more than seventy years. Consumers have relied on Foster Farms for generations, and can be assured that the company takes all possible steps to deliver products that are nutritious and safe to consume.”

I have a few points of contention, not with Felicity’s case nor the jury-selected award, but with how many times a 1.2-inch chicken bone on a pizza was missed.

First, it was missed by the pizza preparer before the pie went into the oven. It was then missed as the same person or fellow employee cut the pizza into slices. Let’s say we skip the food runner/waiter/waitress since we don’t know the staffing situation of the Round Table on that particular day. But that means that it was still overlooked by Felicity, her mother and her mouth! Masticating will save your life fellow foodies!

(THX Mercury News & Eater)