Woman critically ill from ingesting lye

[judymoody]

In Utah, a woman drank sweet tea contaminated with lye from a drink dispenser. Allegedly, the restaurant worker thought he or she was adding sugar.

http://news.msn.com/...mical-laced-tea

How could one not notice the chemical reaction, the smell, color, and temperature changes, and the fumes?

My heart goes out to this poor woman and her family.

 

[shunt2011]

Wow, that's scary.....wonder why the lye was in the food prep area and not well labeled and put away. How sad for the women who drank it.

 

[jules92207]

What a horrible error on their part, and very preventable if people would just be more careful. So sad for her.

 

[IrishLass]

How awful! My prayers go out to her.

IrishLass

 

[Obsidian]

Thats a awful thing to have happen. One of my ex's sister drank some kind of acid based cleaner when she was a little girl, it burned a hole right through her stomach to the outside. She has a scar that almost looks like a bullet hold now. Her mouth and esophagus were damaged pretty badly but it healed.
I can't imagine how much worse drinking lye would be. I hope the company pays this poor womans medical bills.

 

[seven]

OMG! speechless!

 

[reinbeau]

I thought the same thing, about the fumes, etc. Poor woman. I doubt this was an accident, sorry....

 

[CanaDawn]

I picture a tall beverage dispenser that would require dumping in ingredients high enough that fumes might not be noticed. I also assumed an opaque container (like stainless steel), although in those mixer units a lot of changes might go unnoticed. No basis for the previous speculations other than observing dispensers in restaurants.

The cleaning product would be in the food prep area because it was used for degreasing food prep equipment, but obviously their SOPs are lax and desperately unsafe.

 

[CanaDawn]

Wow, that's scary.....wonder why the lye was in the food prep area and not well labeled and put away. How sad for the women who drank it.

from the article "The establishment remains open after county health officials inspected it and found all chemicals properly labeled and separated from food items." but of course it just takes leaving one 'chemical' out or one inattentive employee for disaster.

 

[KristaY]

I read that article earlier too and was completely appalled. I can't imagine mistaking a label that says "sodium hydroxide" for "sugar". Not to mention all the hazardous materials labeling that is required to be on chemicals. It makes me very concerned for the lack of proper education they give their employees. So if the health dept found all the chemicals in their proper places upon inspection, that employee went to the cleaning closet expecting to find sugar for the tea? My heart and prayers go out to that poor woman and her family. What a horrible and preventable tragedy.

 

[Jaccart789]

OMG!!! When a spec of it lye gets on my skin, I shriek in pain. I can't imagine! :cry:

 

[AustinStraight]

This is honestly one of my worst nightmares...

 

[Ellacho]

I am speechless!! How could this happen ? My heart goes out to her and her family

 

[clairissa]

How horrible! I hope she is going to be okay. As an owner of three restaurants, I am wondering why the establishment would even have lye on their premises?

 

[CanaDawn]

How horrible! I hope she is going to be okay. As an owner of three restaurants, I am wondering why the establishment would even have lye on their premises?

It wasn't straight lye, but a degreaser product. Odds are most places have things that contain sodium hydroxide on the premises.

 

[wetshavingproducts]

It wasn't straight lye, but a degreaser product. Odds are most places have things that contain sodium hydroxide on the premises.

That makes more sense.

Would the degreaser product react like straight lye would, or would it behave more like our lye water? Since there wouldn't be any fat in the tea, I would surmise that there would be no saponification reaction generating a lot of heat then.

Still, that's some pretty darned negligent behavior.....

 

[CanaDawn]

That makes more sense.

Would the degreaser product react like straight lye would, or would it behave more like our lye water? Since there wouldn't be any fat in the tea, I would surmise that there would be no saponification reaction generating a lot of heat then.

Still, that's some pretty darned negligent behavior.....

I don't know how it would react without knowing what the product contained, exactly...but lye creates heat on contact with water, not fat, so there could be a LOT of heat or not much, (depending on the exact makeup of the product) although whether it would be noticed in the situation would depend on the setup of the dispenser.

There was enough caustic action that a sip of it caused esophageal "burns"

 

[sprklngsaphire]

My husband told me about this yesterday, and the only thing we could come up with is they some how mistook the lye for sugar. When I was a teen, one of the first jobs I had was at a restaurant, and we used to make sweet tea all the time. And the sugar was not kept in a canister but left inside the card board box it came in and inside of a generic, clear bag. So if you picture just a plain cardboard packing box, and inside of there you see a clear bag with sugar like beads... I can see how someone busy just grabbing that thinking it is sugar,and making up the tea. This tragedy is beyond devastating. My husband is a nurse and can't even fathom the type of injuries that this has done to her internal organs. We hope that she pulls through. I just started making soap, and we have a toddler. Needless to say, that stuff has been put where even I can't reach it, without needing a ladder.

 

[KristaY]

I just read this:

"South Jordan Cpl. Sam Winkler said a former employee told authorities the mixing of the cleaning product into the sugar bag happened July 5."

If the mixture error occurred on July 5 and this former employee knew about it, why wasn't it disposed of? With the level of negligence happening at this restaurant, I'm surprised the health dept and law enforcement are allowing this place to remain open. As a patron I would worry about any other errors that may have taken place and haven't been properly taken care of.

But on a positive note, her condition is improving. She's "whispered and gotten out of bed." Praise God for that!

 

[CanaDawn]

Needless to say, that stuff has been put where even I can't reach it, without needing a ladder.

In our lab, we are not permitted to store dangerous goods above eye level. Consider that if you slip or drop something from a ladder you will be spilling lye from a height onto surfaces, objects and beings below, or into your own face/eyes. You may be better off with a locked lower cabinet.

Good labeling is also important, as a lot of things look alike.