A Bolivian woman reportedly bit into a fast-food hamburger only to find a decomposing human finger, the New York Post reported Thursday.
In a translated Facebook post on Sunday, Estefany Benitez described the experience which allegedly happened at the Hot Burger in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Benitez shared photos of what appeared to be the finger on her plate next to the burger and said, “this happened today Sunday 12-09-2021 in the night and tried to close the Branch and they shut it down and turned it off again as if nothing happened.”
In video footage, Benitez was heard saying, “Here we are at the magnificent Hot Burger where a finger ended up in my burger.”
She also filmed herself telling a restaurant worker about the incident, who offered to take care of the problem.
“Please tell me what you want and we will give it to you,” the employee said, noting the burgers arrived at the restaurant already prepared and “nothing like this has ever happened to us before.”
Although the worker offered to close the restaurant while Benitez was there, it reportedly kept serving customers.
“After the customer’s post went viral, a company spokesperson called the Dahmer-esque discovery an ‘unfortunate incident’ and explained that an employee had lost part of his pointer finger while prepping the meat — a story that has been confirmed by local police,” the Post report said.
Meanwhile, the Bolivian vice-minister for the defense of user and consumer rights decided to temporarily shut down the branch and fine the firm, but it was not immediately clear if Benitez would take legal action.
In a video posted on Tuesday, founder and president of Hot Burger Jorge Schainman said the company deeply regretted the “unfortunate” incident:
“We stand in solidarity with Maria Estefany Benitez Chuquimia. We will do everything necessary to repair the inconvenience caused [by us] inadvertently,” he stated.