Piccadilly chain recalls turnip greens after rat parts found

<p>Piccadilly Cafeterias, Inc. has recalled a brand of turnip greens sold at some of its 132 restaurants after a customer at a Georgia outlet bit into greens containing rat body parts.</p><p>A county health department inspection of the Morrow restaurant following the Sept. 1 incident did not find any rodents in the building or mishandling of the product, the chain's regional manager, Clint Celestin, said Tuesday.</p><p>It was determined that the rat parts came into the restaurant frozen with the turnip greens, which were supplied by a vendor, Celestin said. However, a spokeswoman for the county health department, Sheryl Taylor, said her agency's investigation was inconclusive as to the source of the contamination.</p><p>The chain, which uses turnip greens from several different vendors, has voluntarily recalled turnip greens at its restaurants that were supplied by the vendor in question. Celestin did not know exactly how many restaurants were affected by the recall.</p><p>"We had all that product removed from all of our stores that day," he said. "Anything that was opened was thrown away. Anything that was unopened in the freezer was picked up by our supplier and sent back to the vendor."</p><p>The health department identified the vendor that sold the turnip greens in question as Magic Valley Fresh Frozen Inc. of McAllen, Texas. Larry Griffin, the company's president, said Tuesday he was aware of an incident but could not comment.</p><p>"We have not gotten a formal written complaint. Until we get that it is to early to make any comment," Griffin said.</p><p>Piccadilly did not put out a statement to the public about the recall following the incident.</p><p>"We didn't feel there was any need to," Celestin said. "We had taken care of the problem immediately. We didn't expect and still don't expect this problem to ever occur again."</p><p>The customer who discovered the rat body parts in his food, Collis L. Warren, a 40-year-old truck driver, is planning a lawsuit, said his lawyer, Bobby Aniekwu.</p><p>"Piccadilly has not done anything that shows us this will not continue in the future," Aniekwu said. "They have spent more time trying to pass the buck onto their suppliers."</p><p>Mike Misuraca, Piccadilly's risk manager, said he could not comment on the pending lawsuit, though he said the chain takes food safety seriously.</p><p>Based in Baton Rouge, La., Piccadilly has 6,000 employees and restaurants in 15 states, primarily in the southeast and mid-Atlantic regions. The chain filed for Chapter 11 in 2003. In February, it was sold to a holding company run by two Los Angeles-based private equity firms for $80 million during a bankruptcy court auction.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2864630)</p>

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