Eatery mistakes cleaner for cheese, sickening teen

EASTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — Authorities say a customer at a Massachusetts restaurant became sick when an employee mistakenly sprinkled a chemical cleaner on food instead of grated cheese.

Easthampton health agent Jackie Duda says the teenager fell ill immediately after eating the food Sunday at Riff’s Joint and was driven to an emergency room. She says the teen is recovering and no one else is believed to have eaten the cleaner.

Duda says the powdered chemical had been removed from its original container and placed in another that was not properly labeled. She tells The Daily Hampshire Gazette (http://bit.ly/1kxCB5y ) the restaurant has rectified the issues that led to the poisoning.

Co-owner Jeffrey Cahill called it an isolated incident caused by “gross human error” that won’t happen again.

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Information from: Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Mass.), http://www.gazettenet.com

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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