# McDonald’s employee spent a night in jail **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672 "2007-09-10T14:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/1 "2007-09-10T14:44:41Z")
[McDonalds Story](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20677230/) [McDonalds - from FOX News](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296155,00.html) This story is being reported in several different places. But something strikes me as very, very odd. From MSN > [@](#): > > Bull, 20, said she accidentally spilled salt on hamburger meat and told her supervisor and a co-worker, who “tried to thump the salt off.” From FOX > [@](#): > > Kendra Bull was mixing hamburger meat when, she said, too much salt and pepper accidentally spilled into the bowl. Bull said her manager was working with her, and continued to make patties out of the meat. I’ve never seen a McDonalds making their own patties. Does any of this make sense? ---
**Author:** ![Fetchund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Fetchund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fetchund)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/2 "2007-09-10T15:06:52Z")
This makes no sense whatsoever. As far as I know, they don’t make their own patties. And since when does salt make somebody sick? If someone has a problem with salt, they shouldn’t be eating at McD’s! And the cop arresting her for it? No Way! I’m sensing some sort of hoax… ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/3 "2007-09-10T15:07:15Z")
Frankly, no it doesn’t. I think the reporting and possibly the police report is wrong (Fox News, what a surprise! We report. You decide.). Mc’Donald’s burgers are never made on premises, they arrive “prepucked” and prefrozen from a central processing plant. The only time salt and pepper are added is about two minutes after they are put on the grill and turned. I think it is likely that the top of the salt and pepper shaker ([a single aluminum one much like this](http://www.safetycentral.com/stalsapesh.html) with salt and pepper mixed) might have accidently come off as she was seasoning the patties. The salt could have been easily knocked off or scraped off, but I doubt if the remnants that were left would be a “fatal” or sickenening dose. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/4 "2007-09-10T15:10:03Z")
The whole thing sound fishy and weird. Since when can you arrest someone for making bad food??? And how did the girl know anyone would actually get sick? She wouldn’t know that for sure. There would have to be one hell of a lot of salt in the recipe to make someone sick off one patty, especially after cooking some of it out of the meat. And McD’s does not make their patties on site. I believe them to be delivered pre-made and possibly frozen. BS ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/5 "2007-09-10T15:18:18Z")
According to the AP [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2y4Bty5vUcJD6jnGMWEhkCd5l8Q](http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2y4Bty5vUcJD6jnGMWEhkCd5l8Q) she was charged with reckless conduct. > [@](#): > > (b) A person who causes bodily harm to or endangers the bodily safety of another person by consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his act or omission will cause harm or endanger the safety of the other person and the disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care which a reasonable person would exercise in the situation is guilty of a misdemeanor. O.C.G.A. § 16-5-60 ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/6 "2007-09-10T15:21:32Z")
This incident happened in Union City, GA, so I checked on the website of the [Atlanta Journal-Constitution](http://tinyurl.com/22dyj9), who report it as happening in a “Big-N-Tasty” burger joint (a local chain), not a McDonald’s. It also mentioned a “Blue Light special” discounted price for employees and police officers reflected on the receipt as proof that the server knew a cop was the recipient of the food. I guess the AP newswire has a correction coming up… ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/7 "2007-09-10T15:23:56Z")
Local coverage of the story: [http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2007/09/10/hamburger0910.html](http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2007/09/10/hamburger0910.html) [http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/09/08/mcdonalds\_0909.html](http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/09/08/mcdonalds_0909.html) [http://www.ajc.com/search/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature\_Stories/ODD\_Salty\_Burger.html](http://www.ajc.com/search/content/shared-gen/ap/Feature_Stories/ODD_Salty_Burger.html) [http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2007/09/09/mcdonalds0909.html](http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2007/09/09/mcdonalds0909.html) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/8 "2007-09-10T15:27:36Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] who report it as happening in a “Big-N-Tasty” burger joint (a local chain), not a McDonald’s. [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure the burger the cop was served was a Big-N-Tasty. The AJC articles all say Kendra Bull (the worker) was a McDonald’s employee, and McD’s serves a burger called the Big-N-Tasty. [QUOTE=AJC article linked above] For McDonald’s staffer Kendra Bull, Adams’ lunch also came with a price. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/9 "2007-09-10T15:32:07Z")
[QUOTE=robardin] This incident happened in Union City, GA, so I checked on the website of the [Atlanta Journal-Constitution](http://tinyurl.com/22dyj9), who report it as happening in a “Big-N-Tasty” burger joint (a local chain), not a McDonald’s. It also mentioned a “Blue Light special” discounted price for employees and police officers reflected on the receipt as proof that the server knew a cop was the recipient of the food. I guess the AP newswire has a correction coming up… [/QUOTE] You are confusing matters, more. A [Big N Tasty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_N'_Tasty) is a McDonald’s Hamburger, Not a fast food chain. A BNT is the descendent of the old MC DLT ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/10 "2007-09-10T15:35:17Z")
[QUOTE=Fir na tine] Does any of this make sense? [/QUOTE] It makes sense if you assume that the Fox writer had never worked at McDonalds, and so didn’t understand that the girl was merely seasoning frozen patties; that he misunderstood what had actually happened and thought that she was “mixing” hamburger meat, and that the manager “continued to make patties”, when he should have written that the manager “continued to **cook** patties”. > [@Fetchund](#): > > And since when does salt make somebody sick? If someone has a problem with salt, they shouldn’t be eating at McD’s! If you’re in the habit of wolfing down a McD’s burger without tasting it–which many people are–and there was a whole big pile of salt on the patty that you didn’t know about, you could ingest most of that whole big pile of salt before you realized, “Hey, this burger is awful salty!” And yes, an overdose of salt can make you sick. [Four](http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=875&id=561242003)[stories](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DF1F39F934A25751C0A96F948260) [about](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/404667.stm) [children](http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1425315,00.html), and [one Airedale](http://www.jaaha.org/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/113), who were made ill by too much salt, three of whom died, plus the dog. And the [NIH](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11141375&dopt=AbstractPlus) reports on two more. Now, granted, an adult male is much less likely to actually die of eating a big pile of salt on his McD’s burger, but it definitely could have made him sick. I found [this report](http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=273185) of a 41-year-old male who died three days after drinking a gargling solution that contained about one-third of a cup of salt. So yeah, too much salt can make you sick. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/11 "2007-09-10T15:49:20Z")
I propose that if I were to accidently spill salt on a 1/4 lb. burger patty after turning it (approx.1-2 minutes cooking time), and excercise due dilligence by removing the majority of the salt physically. Then finish cooking it per Mc Donald’s instructions (approximately 3-5 minutes more cooking time), with the patented tilt and drain of the fat and cooking juices at the end of the cooking cycle that the remaing salt would be dissolute and removed… and pose no direct risk of salt poisoning. Overseasoned, perhaps… but deadly? Hell no! ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/12 "2007-09-10T15:56:29Z")
The real question is how does one not taste the supposed massive amount of salt on the burger and stop eating it? Salt is one of those things I cannot see someone accidentally ingesting enough of without noticing and then becoming sick. It’s a quite obvious taste unless you have some severe tongue issues. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/13 "2007-09-10T15:58:13Z")
The various reports say the officer vomited and was briefly hospitalized. The local papers suggest that there might have been more than salt added to the burger. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/14 "2007-09-10T16:03:06Z")
According to what I can find on-line, the LDlo (lowest recorded lethal dose) for salt in humans is (if I am reading it correctly) 1000mg/KG. I would have to guess that to reach that level of saltiness, there would have had to have been mounds of salt on the burger. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/15 "2007-09-10T16:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose] Now, granted, an adult male is much less likely to actually die of eating a big pile of salt on his McD’s burger, but it definitely could have made him sick. I found [this report](http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=273185) of a 41-year-old male who died three days after drinking a gargling solution that contained about one-third of a cup of salt. So yeah, too much salt can make you sick. [/QUOTE] I was a 200 pound female one day when I found the glorious pinnacle of Hint of Lime tortilla chips (or maybe it was Cool Ranch Doritos, I forget). Anyway, there was a solid chunk of flavoring powder bigger than a quarter and about 1/3 of an inch thick on one chip. I licked it for a good half hour. I felt like I was hungover for the rest of the day. The queasy, head pounding, light hurts room-spinning kind of hungover. No amount of water would help. It was really, really horrible. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/16 "2007-09-10T16:26:35Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] You are confusing matters, more. A [Big N Tasty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_N'_Tasty) is a McDonald’s Hamburger, Not a fast food chain. A BNT is the descendent of the old MC DLT [/QUOTE] D’oh!! It’s been many a year since I’ve looked at a McDonald’s menu, and assumed anything “Big 'N Tasty” could not possibly be sold at a Mickey D’s due to truth in advertising laws 😛 Sorry for scoring an own goal in the fight against ignorance! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/17 "2007-09-10T16:33:50Z")
“That’s the saltiest thing I ever tasted, and I once ate a big heaping bowl of salt!” ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/18 "2007-09-10T16:34:32Z")
If the officer had reason to believe this was done intentionally, I can’t fault him for arresting her. If it was just an accident, I suspect the manager and/or employees will think twice before they sell contaminated food again. Could also be it was a little of both. The oversalting was an accident and then they saw the police coming in and decided to unload it on them. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/19 "2007-09-10T16:42:35Z")
[QUOTE=adam yax] According to what I can find on-line, the LDlo (lowest recorded lethal dose) for salt in humans is (if I am reading it correctly) 1000mg/KG. I would have to guess that to reach that level of saltiness, there would have had to have been mounds of salt on the burger. [/QUOTE] Well, if there was that much salt, it would have been attempted murder. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672/20 "2007-09-10T17:32:02Z")
[QUOTE=A.R. Cane] If the officer had reason to believe this was done intentionally, I can’t fault him for arresting her. . [/QUOTE] Right. I am not saying that is what happened, but it does happen that FF employees contaminate the food for a Cop. And it is clear to me that is what the Cop \*thought \*had happened. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mcdonald-s-employee-spent-a-night-in-jail/418672.md?page=2)