Dry Fork man seeks settlement in sandwich case

A Dry Fork man who says his son found an adhesive bandage in his Hardee’s sandwich last month hopes to reach a settlement with the franchise.

Robert Kelly said the Tightsqueeze Hardee’s, where Kelly bought sandwiches for his family, has not of-fered a refund or another meal since the May 8 incident.

Rick Rountree, a spokesman for Boddie Noell Enterprises, the franchise operator of the restaurant, said the company offered to have Kelly’s child tested for illness but he has not accepted the offer.

“Hardee’s has a strong commitment and history of providing quality food products served to the very highest standards,” Rountree said in a statement. “We take every complaint and every concern very seriously. We have made requests for information and documentation from the individual making this claim and look forward to receiving these.”

In the statement, Rountree said the company will “continue to conduct a complete and thorough inquiry pending additional reports.” Rountree declined to comment further.

It was Friday, May 8, when Kelly purchased six hot ham-and-cheese sandwiches for his family at the Hardee’s drive-through. At home, Kelly’s 10-year-old son was eating his sandwich when he noticed he was chewing what he thought was a tough piece of ham. It turned out to be an adhesive bandage, Kelly said.

Kelly, who has the bandage, said he is planning to send it to a lab to get the blood in it analyzed. His son was nauseated the day after the incident and has been sick on another occasion since discovering the ban-dage, Kelly said.

Kelly called the restaurant’s district manager. She told him she checked the Tightsqueeze location and was told the employees were wearing gloves, Kelly said. Kelly also said he also contacted the Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office because he wasn’t sure whether the bandage was deliberately added to the sand-wich.

Dan Richardson, environmental health manager for the Pittsylvania-Danville Health Department, said the department has fully investigated the matter.

“We didn’t see anything that would confirm or deny the … incident,” Richardson said.

Richardson said the department received the complaint on May 11. No employees at the restaurant had cuts on their hands, food handlers were wearing gloves and the eatery’s in-house bandages did not match the one in the sandwich, Richardson said.

Kelly said he will not eat at Hardee’s again.

“I don’t plan to return,” he said.

Contact Crane at jcrane@registerbee.com or (434) 791-7987.