Chicago Man Sues Restaurant Over Nine-Foot Tapeworm

Apparently Received Present in Undercooked Salmon

If you're as old as me, you might remember the first "Alien" movie where an astronaut complains of chest pain only to deliver an alien through his chest. Or, consider the movie "The Thing" from 1982, where a doctor falls through a chest cavity caused by an alien while administering cardio shock. The thought of any "creepy-crawly" in our body is enough to send shivers through the strongest constitution.

The Associated Press is reporting a story out of Chicago that says a man is suing a restaurant for ingesting a nine-foot tapeworm in some undercooked salmon. For the record, the tapeworm falls into my grouping of "most disgusting and feared" which includes the tapeworm, earwig and leech.

Anthony Franz is suing Shaw's Crab Shack and its parent company Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises for $100,000. The suit claims that Shaw's Crab Shack served Franz undercooked salmon in 2006 leading to the ingestion and ultimate passing of a nine-foot tapeworm. Franz suffered violent illness prior to relieving himself of the tapeworm.

The response from Lettuce Entertain You was somewhat predictable. Carrol Symank, vice president of food safety was quoted in the AP article as saying: "We have done a thorough investigation and we're confident the restaurant is not the source".

What are the odds that Franz is right? It is hard to say. According to "The Tapeworm Page", typically the tapeworm is much more likely to infest your dog or your cat than you. An animal will stereotypically pick up the creature on infested fleas.

On Mr. Franz's side, however, is the fact that when humans are infested it is through undercooked fish, beef or pork. Information suggests, though, that tapeworms don't actually "pass" rather growing and breaking off unusable parts.