Fried Chicken Head Amid Chicken Wings Has Whole Town Cackling
How could a mere piece of a chicken - a most common of meats - create such a stir?
Word that a Newport News, Va., woman found a fried chicken head in a box of McDonald’s chicken wings has become the talk of the town.
Katherine Ortega said she found the head Tuesday in a box of wings she bought at the McDonald’s at the intersection of Warwick and Hickory Point boulevards in Denbigh, Va. She said she was about to feed the wings to her children when she picked up the head.
Ortega, who said she has had trouble sleeping since the incident, has not decided whether to file a lawsuit.
But if she does, how much is a chicken head worth?
Robert McFarland, a Norfolk, Va., attorney, said a suit would probably land Ortega “no more than a couple thousand dollars.”
Stephen H. Pitler, a personal injury lawyer for Joseph Smith Ltd., a Hampton, Va., law firm, wasn’t so sure the jury amount would be so limited.
“I wouldn’t want to put any figure on it,” he said. “It looks to me that there’s a legal wrong. Someone had to cook it, someone had to put it in the box. Whether or not she could get damages would depend on how she reacted. Some people might laugh at it and throw it away. But other people might be psychologically scarred for a very long time.”
Have Americans become so far removed from the production of their food that the mere sight of part of an animal they eat everyday could lead to such distress?
Marcus Griffin, an assistant professor of sociology and a cultural anthropologist at Christopher Newport University, said that in many societies people wouldn’t look twice at a chicken head staring from their plate.
Because of a lack of refrigeration, Griffin said, many people around the world raise their own animals, or buy them live and kill them right before eating. And they typically eat the whole animal.
Even if Ortega, or her children, had eaten her chicken head, nothing much, at least not physically, would have happened to her, health experts say.
The Peninsula Health District says that there’s nothing physically wrong with eating a fried chicken head. All the bacteria and organisms in the chicken brain, once fried at more than 240 degrees, will die. Even the beak will simply crunch apart in your mouth.
“It’s deep-fried,” said Arthur Austin, environmental health specialist senior at the Peninsula Health District. “There is no chance, none, of anyone getting sick over this. There is no chance of survival of any bacteria.”
Despite that, Austin said, restaurants must be held accountable for serving up a chicken head.
“We don’t allow something that unusual without a special permit,” said Austin. “Because even though it’s fried, you can very clearly see what it is - the eye sockets and everything. People might be freaked out by that.”
On Wednesday, Austin went through all of the chicken wings at the restaurant. They found only wings. No heads. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Richmond offices will now look into where the processed wings came from.
John E. Smith, the owner of the McDonald’s in question, released the following statement Thursday: “At my restaurant, the quality and the safety of the food is my highest priority. I am aware of the customer allegation and we’re taking this matter very seriously. We are conducting a thorough investigation to gather all the facts and determine what further action is necessary.”