Lye-Laced Tea From Restaurant Poisoned And Put Utah Woman In Critical Condition

Lye-laced tea is responsible for putting a 67-year-old grandmother in the hospital after she unknowingly took a sip of the poisoned brew.

Jan Harding and her husband ordered lunch at a Utah restaurant like any other couple might do. But when Jan took one sip of her tea, she immediately knew something was wrong.

According to Newsmax, Jan got the lye-laced tea at the self-serve beverage station at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in South Jordan. She took a single sip and informed her husband that she tasted something odd.

“I think I just drank acid.”

Jan immediately spit the lye-laced tea out, but the damage had already started.

According to Examiner, the tea was laced with chemical lye. The lye is used in the form of an industrial cleaner to degrease deep fryers and is often used to eat away clogs in drains.

Jan immediately began to panic as the pain started to set in. She received severe burns in her mouth and throat from the lye-laced tea and remains in critical condition. Jan is unable to talk and her condition has not changed since she was admitted to Salt Lake City hospital’s burn unit on Sunday.

Authorities who are investigating the matter and the manager of the restaurant believe that a worker accidentally put a large quantity of lye into the tea instead of sugar.

Jan Harding’s lawyer, Paxton Guymon, is disturbed by the thought of a very toxic industrial cleaner being used near food prep areas.

“It’s disturbing that this kind of toxic, poisonous material would be in the food-prep area and somehow find its way into the iced tea vat. I don’t know how something like that can happen.”

Investigators have been interviewing employees at the restaurant and watching video footage to determine the facts of the case. They believe that Harding was the only victim of the lye-laced tea. She was the first person to drink the tea that day, and employees dumped the poisoned tea out after she was burned.

The owner of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit restaurant released a statement on Thursday saying that he is cooperating with authorities and praying for Jan Harding. He did not reveal any more specifics about the incident out of respect to Harding, according to Newsmax.

Harding’s lawyer is waiting for the investigation of the lye-laced tea incident to wrap up before deciding how to react in the court of law on behalf of Jan Harding.

[Image via AP Photo/Rick Bowmer]