MILTON, Wash. — Mike Norman and his wife Diane are suing a Domino's Pizza franchise in Milton because he said he ingested a metal wire from a grill brush that was in the Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza he ate from the location.
"I grabbed a couple of pieces of pizza, took a bite, everything felt very normal. Suddenly there was a tearing that occurred in my throat," said Norman.
He eventually cleared his throat and thought it was a hard piece of food.
"That has to be the crust of the pizza perhaps or a hard piece of the Canadian bacon," said Norman.
"We all were sitting at the table when he was choking and it was very scary," said Diane Norman, Mike's wife.
Over the next few days, he said he felt a blunt pain in his stomach.
"The thought started creeping in my mind that there's something inside of me," said Mike Norman.
Norman underwent emergency surgery to remove two one-and-a-half-inch wires from his stomach.
Diane Norman then thought to check a few leftover pieces of pizza.
"I flipped it over and there was a little wire on the bottom, and I’m like, oh my gosh," said Diane Norman.
The couple has filed a lawsuit in Pierce County Superior Court against Carpe Diem Pizza, Inc., which owns the store and Domino's Pizza.
"I honestly had never even considered the risk of wire brushes until I met the Normans and saw the prior warnings by the CDC and other health officials. I am glad the Normans have come forward to talk about the real risks to consumers, both at restaurants and home," said attorney Bill Marler, who is representing the Normans.
A manager at the Milton store would not comment on the situation or say if the grill brush is still being used to clean the oven racks.
Our call to the franchise’s corporate office was not returned.
We asked Tim McIntyre, vice president of communications for Domino's corporate, about using the metal bristle brushes. He said, "We do not get that specific with franchisees. We require them to follow federal, state and their local health regulations. It is up to them, as independent business operators, to set specific cleaning procedures outside of these basic guidelines."
The Normans also filed a complaint with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department over the incident.
An inspector cited the store for using metal brushes that were worn down.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a nationwide warning on the metal grill brushes earlier this year.
The CPSC said there are at least a dozen complaints about ingesting the metal wires every year.
A spokesperson said that people need to understand the risks of using one and inspect the bristles before and after using the brushes.
Any complaints can be filed at SaferProducts.gov.
The Normans said they filed the lawsuit to get restaurants like Domino's to stop using metal bristle brushes.
"There has to be changes, we want other people to be aware and we want to see Domino’s and all restaurants throw out those brushes and find a new way to clean," said Diane Norman.
""It's a preventable injury but it could be a potentially life-threatening situation," said Mike Norman.
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