It's Digit-licious!

WARNING: The following blog is not meant for the weak stomached.

Well, it's happened again. It happens every few years, something goes awry in the fast food industry. E-coli from hamburgers, mad cow disease, or in this case, a little, bitty finger finds it way into a bubbling vat 'o chili.

Can you imagine the horror!?! You're in a rush, you've stopped at a fast food restaurant, trying to order something remotely healthy you get the chili. It seems innocuous enough, a little tomato, a few kidney beans, and a bit of ground beef. But don't you see, that's where you have gone wrong. The dreaded ground beef. It's not that I have anything against ground beef per se, but from a fast food restaurant? There is just too much that can go wrong. Whether it be at the slaughter house (!), the processing plant, or the tray laden, wrapper full, utensil-less restaurant, there are just too many places something could fall in, or in this case fall off, into your large vat of meat products.

I'm sorry, but I have to go for it. This mishap brings new meaning to the words "finger food." I'm a big texture girl, I don't like bits of fat, grisly portions, or what I call, "knuckly bits," in my meat; they can ruin a meal for me. Can you imagine the knuckly bits this poor, unwitting woman in San Jose endured as she sat down to dinner Tuesday evening?

What is almost more disturbing than the finger itself is this quote from the paper: "Since all of the workers at the restaurant were in possession 'of all 10 of their fingers,' health inspectors assume the finger likely entered the food chain as a result of the manufacturing process, according to county Environmental Resources Director Ben Gale." Was anybody ever under the impression that someone at Wendy's had lost their finger and didn't know it? You know that someone, somewhere, is thinking, "Hey! That's my finger!" Talk about your 15 minutes of fame. And, logic dictates that if no one noticed their finger being lobbed off, perhaps there's more than just a digit suspended in the vat.

Perhaps I am being too naive. Whether you are dining at a four-star restaurant, or a greasy-spoon diner your meat could be coming from virtually anywhere. I guess that explains the infiltration of the often costly, but ultimately more settling, organic meat products. We can't guarantee that these products are better for you, but I do feel a bit safer buying them. Now I'm not going to get all Alice Waters on you. Of course it's your decision what type of meat products you buy, or even if you decide to eat meat at all, but the next time you're at the grocery store, or you pull up at your local fast food restaurant, I bet you will think of the woman, pulling a chili covered fingertip from her lips.