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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Finds in food raise suspicions

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Lori Young of Honolulu is starting to wonder if something is up.

Though most of us have had the jarring experience of finding a, shall we politely say, FOREIGN OBJECT in our food, Lori and her family have been on some kind of run lately.

It started on Valentine's Day, when Lori's aunty went out for a nice dinner and found a piece of steel wool in her tempura. Shortly after that, Lori's mom went to a popular local eatery where she was served a moldy piece of bread. In the past month, it's happened twice to Lori: She found a 1 1/2-inch coiled copper wire in an order of pasta at one restaurant, and just days later she discovered pieces of glass in a ham sandwich she got in a hotel.

"I was crunching on it," she says, "like when you hit a rock in your rice."

At that point, it all seemed way past coincidence. She started to wonder if it had anything to do with the effects of 9/11, that perhaps restaurants were running kitchens understaffed.

Brian Choy, Department of Health Sanitation branch manager, says he hasn't seen any sort of rash of incidents.

"You're correct in saying there's always a possibility that because of the economic recession that people are not maintaining their facilities correctly," he said. "But I'm not aware of that occurring. "

Choy also noted that the items Lori and her family encountered were odd. "Usually it's insects or hair."

Great.

When Choy's staff gets a report of weird stuff showing up in food, they inspect the restaurant kitchen to make sure it doesn't happen again or determine whether it happened at all. Most of the time, though, the Department of Health never hears about such incidents. People either deal with the restaurant directly or, in typical local style, say nothing to the restaurant staff but tell everyone they know to quit going there.

I figure since I have Choy on the phone I'll get a couple of "weirdest things ever found in food" stories. He cracks up at my question.

"I have no stories to share," he says in a way that makes me suspect he has LOTS of stories, but none that he'll tell a reporter.

I tell him the best food story I know, hoping to prime the pump: A bunch of friends were tailgating at a UH game, enjoying some tako poke somebody bought. One guy got a piece that was exceptionally chewy. It just wouldn't break down. Finally, he took a look. It was a BandAid, looped like it had fallen off someone's finger. Ewwww!

Choy is quiet on the other end of the phone. Finally he says, "That's why I like to get my poke from Ruger Market, where they custom make each order."

So there you go.

As for Lori, has her recent run of bad luck kept from her going out to eat?

"No way," she says, "I hate to cook."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.