A French woman is suing McDonald’s after it offered her a “10 percent discount” when she bit into a lizard that had found its way into her burger.
The woman in her thirties ordered the Big Tasty from the fast food giant in Saint-Witz, in the Val d’Oise district outside Paris.
The events took place in February 2021, but the lawsuit has only just come to light.
The plaintiff, known only as Pamela (not her real name), took a bite, but felt something strange about the meal.
“I felt something strange was going on,” she told Le Parisien, who broke the story. “I opened [the burger] and discovered a crushed lizard with its entrails hanging out.”
Her friend Christelle added: “It was smeared with sauce. The cook must have seen it.”
‘They weren’t surprised’
Despite only nibbling on the reptile, Pamela was concerned because she was still breastfeeding her eight-month-old son and had read that lizards can carry several harmful bacteria, including salmonella.
She therefore decided to stop breastfeeding. “I was especially scared” about the health implications, she said.
When she returned to the eatery that evening, she said the staff were anything but apologetic and could only offer her a “10 percent discount” on her next meal as compensation.
“I got the impression they weren’t surprised,” she claimed. “The cook was there and at no time did he come to see us. The attendant was not there.”
Lizard kept as an exhibit in fridge
That night she said she was having trouble sleeping and the next day, feeling sick, she went to a doctor who prescribed her a course of antibiotics as a precaution.
Later, a manager finally called to put her in touch with the company’s insurer. “That means they recognized there was a problem. What I really wanted was for them to say sorry,” Pamela said.
She contacted a lawyer, Frederick Petitpermon, who kept the offending lizard as an exhibit in his refrigerator for several weeks in case it had to be sent to a lab for testing.
However, Mr Petitpermon said the food safety authorities have not been contacted.
He has now sued McDonald’s for “endangering the lives of others”. The hearing is scheduled for February next year.
‘Food quality top priority’
Management at the McDonald’s outlet insisted they took the complaint “very seriously” and ordered an internal investigation at the branch and found “nothing untoward”.
It would “continue to pass all necessary evidence to the judge,” it told Le Parisien. “Food quality and safety are the brand’s top priorities and as a result, numerous audits and checks are carried out during the preparation of our menus,” it said.
France is the world’s largest consumer of McDonald’s meals after the US.