McDonald’s filed a US$1.1m lawsuit Tuesday against Estefania Qunones, who told Chilean authorities and the media that she found a worm in her McDonald’s hamburger.

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The company’s lawyer in the lawsuit, Sergio Vergara, said the company is filing suit because Qunones’s high-profile accusation has affected the image and prestige of the company.


Qunones said she had purchased the infected hamburger at a McDonald’s restaurant in a Santiago mall. The 19-year-old college student said she showed the worm to a McDonald’s employee, who then took the hamburger and never returned it. The student’s mother, who is an air force nutritionist, took the case to local police.


McDonald’s denied Qunones’s accusation.


Qunones’s accusation came after the fastfood company was already under heat when government inspectors found excessive bacteria in the hamburgers at another Santiago locale. Santiago metropolitan health officials issued the company a US$620 fine last Friday.

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A January inspection of another McDonald’s restaurant found bacteria levels that exceeded sanitary norms in five hamburgers tested. The hamburgers had eight times the allowable levels for the bacteria.


The inspection was held after a customer told health officials 25 October that her son fell ill after eating a hamburger at the restaurant.


McDonald’s representatives said Friday that they will take these accusations to court.


McDonald’s hit Chilean headlines last September when e-coli bacteria was detected in a third Santiago McDonald’s. The restaurant was closed down and issued a US$5,715 fine. A tug of war between the company and the government, however, ended with the Labor Minister, Health Undersecretary and other officials sitting down for a televised lunch at the restaurant.


By Eric P Martin, just-food.com correspondent