McDonald’s customer says she found a pill in her chicken nugget, but the restaurant’s response has her furious: “There’s nothing I can do about it”
Finding the object was bad enough. The response she says she got after calling McDonald’s only made it worse.
A McDonald’s customer in Clinton, Iowa, says she found what looked like a pill stuck directly to one of her chicken nuggets. She says the response she got after calling the restaurant was almost as frustrating as finding it in the first place.
Savannah Soibel shared a photo on Facebook and warned customers about the McDonald’s on Lincoln Way. According to Soibel, a woman at the restaurant told her, “there’s nothing I can do about it,” when she called to report what she had found.
The photo appears to show a small white tablet-shaped object pressed against the nugget, but Soibel did not identify it. She also did not report anyone swallowing the object or becoming ill. For now, it remains unclear what the object was or how it allegedly ended up with her food.
This is exactly what food safety rules are supposed to prevent
Iowa food safety rules are clear. Employees must store medication where it cannot contaminate food. Soibel’s photo cannot show how the tablet-shaped object allegedly reached her nugget, but it does show why finding something like that in prepared food warrants a closer look.
Iowa follows the FDA Food Code for restaurant safety. Workers can keep medicine they need on site, but they must label it and store it away from food and anything used to prepare it.
McDonald’s says its restaurants go through internal and third-party food safety checks. McDonald’s uses those reviews to catch problems with how employees store, handle, and prepare food before an order reaches a customer.
If the object came from inside the restaurant, staff missed it during food prep and packaging before the order reached Soibel. Much similar to the metal found in another McDonald’s nugget.
Commenters tried to identify the object from the photo, but that is not something customers should rely on if an unknown tablet actually ends up in their food. Poison Control can use a pill’s imprint along with details about the possible exposure to help determine what it may be. If someone swallows it, that information can help experts decide what they should do next instead of guessing based on appearance alone.
Calling McDonald’s should not be the end of it
If Soibel got the response she described, she can take that complaint beyond the restaurant. Iowa lets customers report possible food safety problems directly to the Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, which handles complaints involving restaurants.
That gives customers somewhere to go when a restaurant does not resolve the problem itself. Iowa’s complaint form asks for the business name and address, when the problem happened, and an explanation of what occurred. The state also prioritizes complaints that include supporting documentation, such as photos, screenshots, videos, and other evidence.
That is also why keeping evidence can matter, whether it is the tablet itself or a suspicious McDonald’s coffee lid. The receipt gives the complaint a specific place and time, while photos preserve what the customer found even if they cannot keep the food.
If someone actually swallows an unknown tablet, the next step is different. Rather than trying to identify it from a photo or waiting to see what happens, Poison Control can use details such as the pill’s markings, shape and imprint, along with the person’s age and symptoms, to help determine what to do next.
Poison Control can be reached at 1-800-222-1222. It is free, available 24/7, and connects callers with poison experts who can help determine what to do after a possible exposure.
Soibel has not said anyone swallowed the object, so there is no reported poisoning or medical emergency. Still, keeping the tablet itself could matter if she decides to report the incident. A photo can show that something was on the nugget, but the object may have markings or an imprint that could help determine what it actually was.
The Mary Sue reached out to Soibel and McDonald’s for more information and will update this article if either responds.
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