ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 4, 1996 TAG: 9607050067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
A woman who says she bit into a cockroach in her sausage biscuit at a Hardee's restaurant in Salem six weeks ago is suing the restaurant's owner.
An attorney for Patricia M. Artz of Salem filed a motion for judgment Wednesday in Salem Circuit Court against Boddie-Noell Enterprises Inc. of Rocky Mount, N.C., seeking $25,000 in damages.
Artz, 37, said she was on her way to work May 27 when she stopped by the Hardee's at Electric Road and Indiana Street and bought a sausage gravy biscuit breakfast.
When she started to eat the biscuit, according to the lawsuit, ``she felt something `crunchy' in her mouth.''
Artz spit out the biscuit and found a roach in the food.
``She immediately became nauseated and sick to her stomach to the point that she regurgitated, and remained sick for two days,'' the lawsuit stated.
Artz said she continued to have problems eating other foods and sleeping and went to see a doctor.
``It's still pretty gross to think about,'' Artz said Wednesday.
She said she had been eating at the restaurant for ``a long time'' but never had a problem before.
This is the same Hardee's restaurant that was temporarily closed last week after two employees became ill from salmonella bacteria.
Salmonellosis, the food-borne illness caused by salmonella, most often is associated with the handling of uncooked poultry.
The restaurant reopened last Thursday, staffed by workers from out of town until its 30-some workers were given clean bills of health.
A state Health Department inspection of the restaurant last week found mice and fly infestations and poor worker hygiene.
A state environmental health supervisor said she didn't see any workers wash their hands in the two hours she was there. And she found that dirty wiping cloths were being used.
The environmental health supervisor, Karen Chaples, said she did not recall a problem with roaches in the restaurant.
When contacted at home Wednesday, Chaples did not have access to inspection records.
Hardee's corrected violations found in the restaurant last week, said the director of the Roanoke and Alleghany health districts, Dr. Molly Rutledge.
No one could be reached from Boddie-Noell, the restaurant's owner, after business hours Wednesday.
However, the company's district vice president said last week that the general manager of the Salem Hardee's no longer works there.
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