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Texas Woman Sues Popeyes For Flesh-Eating Screwworms In Rice And Beans

By Tara West
Published on: 12:48 PST, Feb 12, 2017

A Texas woman, Karen Goode, is suing a San Antonio Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen after she claims she was infected with flesh-eating screwworms at the restaurant, which began to eat her “alive from the inside-out.” Goode filed the lawsuit on February 7, 2017, noting that she was made so ill by the Popeyes rice and beans that she was unable to work, lost her business, her house and her vehicle. Now she wants $1 million in damages from the food chain.

WWLTV reported that the plaintiff in the lawsuit, Karen Goode, claims she was stricken ill after eating at the San Antonio Popeyes restaurant located at 506 S W.W. White Road. Goode claims in her lawsuit that the rice and beans she consumed in the restaurant were tainted with flesh-eating New World screwworms. As a result, Goode says that the flesh-eating parasites made their way through her digestive tract eventually embedding in her small intestine.

The screwworms then reported laid eggs in the woman’s intestines which resulted in her severe medical condition. After the eggs hatched, the flesh-eating parasites began eating Goode “alive from the inside-out.” The lawsuit details that due to her injuries from the screwworms, Goode became too sick to work and eventually lost her business.

Without a job, Goode reportedly lost her home and vehicle. Now Karen Goode is seeking damages of $1 million from Popeyes for their failure to ensure the food she consumed was safe.

In addition to suing Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Goode has also named Z&H Foods Inc, the owner of the franchise that she consumed the presumably tainted food at, for their part in the case. My San Antonio reported that Popeyes is is based in Atlanta, Georgia, while Z&H Foods Inc is out of Sugarland. The lawsuit was filed in Bexar County, Texas.

Popeyes has not responded to the claims noting that they do not discuss pending litigation. However, the court documents have been made public and can be viewed here.

Popeyes Lawsuit by kens5 on Scribd

There is currently no formal response to the complaints by Popeyes on file. The lawsuit does not indicate the date that the plaintiff was allegedly injured by the flesh-eating screwworms, but according to the Texas Agricultural Daily, New World screwworms were absent from the United States for over 30 years before returning in 2016.

The New World screwworms were discovered in Florida in 2016, the first time the larvae were found in the United States in 30 years. The Texas Farm Bureau discusses the issues that the maggots can have on livestock, which they most frequently infect, but notes that they can infect humans as well.

“New World screwworms are fly larvae (maggots) that can infest livestock and other warm-blooded animals, including people. They most often enter an animal through an open wound and feed on the animal’s living flesh. Infested animals that are not treated in seven to 14 days may die.”

It is unclear how the screwworms may have found their way into the Popeyes beans and rice as there have not been any confirmed cases of New World screwworms in Texas since the first cases appeared in Florida last year. If there are screwworms in Texas, the Texas Animal Health Commission will likely want to know as the program has worked heavily to eradicate the dangerous larvae from the United States.

In fact, the USDA says that upon discovery of the New World screwworms in Florida, an eradication program was implemented that began in October 2016. The eradication program was so successful in the past that the United States was free from the larvae for three decades before the recent resurgence of the population in the Florida Keys.

[Featured Image by Coast-to-Coast/iStock]

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