Woman claims human flesh found in frozen fruit from Walmart
A woman claims she found what “appeared to be a fingertip or toe tip” in a smoothie she made with bags of frozen fruit from Walmart.
In a lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court on March 15, Mandy Palma accuses Walmart Inc. and the Oregon Potato Co., which operates as Rader Farms, of negligence.
“The defendants owed a duty to Ms. Palma to provide her with a product that was safe and in a reasonable condition and free from contamination, foreign substances, human flesh, etc.,” Palma’s attorney, Steven Burris, wrote in the complaint.
On May 6, Palma went to the Walmart at 3950 W. Lake Mead Blvd. in North Las Vegas and bought a bag of Great Value mixed fruit and a bag of Great Value strawberries, the complaint states. The next day, she used some of each bag to make a smoothie, which she drank with a straw.
“Right after that, when rinsing or washing the cup containing the smoothie, Ms. Palma observed a piece of human flesh at the bottom of the container, which appeared to be a fingertip or toe tip,” Burris wrote.
Randy Hargrove, a spokesman for Walmart Inc., said that once Walmart Inc. learned of Palma’s claim, they made the supplier of the prepackaged product aware and referred Burris to the supplier.
“We take claims like this seriously and are committed to providing our customers with safe, high quality foods,” he said. “We are not aware of any similar concerns raised by other customers. We hold our suppliers to high standards and expect they will provide quality products to our customers.”
The supplier, Oregon Potato Co., declined to comment for this story.
The lawsuit alleges that Palma has suffered physical, mental and emotional injuries and states that Palma is seeking more than $15,000 and less than $75,000 in damages.
Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @ByBrianaE on Twitter.
