Tina Keeney was stressed when she found what she believes to be a human tooth in her canned soup. Two years later, the stress and anxiety continue, resulting in a 30-pound weight loss.
"I just don't eat," said the 37-year-old West Jordan resident, who admits to having "obsessive" eating issues since the July 9, 2002, discovery.
"It has affected the way I shop, the way I fix food, things that I eat," Keeney said. "It's been a life-altering experience."
Still, a state court judge recently ruled that Keeney failed to prove she has suffered physical injury and dismissed her claims of negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
"Ms. Keeney fails to set forth any facts showing that she has suffered bodily harm or illness. To the contrary, Ms. Keeney indicates that she is not sick and has not suffered diseases, ulcers or headaches as a result of the incident," 3rd District Judge L.A. Dever wrote in his Aug. 23 order granting summary judgment to Campbell Soup Co.
In her September 2003 lawsuit, Keeney alleged she opened a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup, dished some into a bowl for herself and scooped out a handful of noodles for her young son. After eating her lunch, Keeney said she was at the sink rinsing out her bowl and heard her son tapping something on the tray of his high chair. Upon inspection, Keeney alleged, she discovered that the hard, white object was actually a human tooth.
Keeney said she immediately called the telephone number listed on the soup can, where a polite, if skeptical, operator offered to send a check to cover the cost of the soup and a package in which Keeney could return the object.
Rather than sending it back, Keeney passed the object along to her attorney, who had it tested by a pathologist. The expert confirmed it was indeed a human molar, attorney Daniel Irvin said, that appeared to have been cut in some kind of manufacturing process.
The soup company did send Keeney a $10 check, which Dever said amounted to full compensation for her loss.
Keeney said she was disappointed about the judge's ruling and her attorneys probably will appeal. "I don't think he (Dever) took into consideration what my lawyers brought up. I think he basically went with what the defense attorneys said," she said.
After the incident, Keeney said she researched all items sold by Campbell Soup Co. and was surprised at the number of brands manufactured by Campbell's. Each product — such as Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish crackers, a former family favorite — has been forever banned from the Keeney household.
Keeney also said she has heard from others who have allegedly discovered unusual items in their canned goods. With each story, she said, her food reluctance grows.
"It just makes me wonder what kind of quality assurances they have," she said. "Who's in charge of investigating these things?"
If a foreign object is found in food at a restaurant, a person can file a complaint with the state board of health, she said.
As a pharmacy technician at a Salt Lake County grocery store, Keeney is sometimes asked to ring up food items along with a customer's prescription. When those customers have items made by Campbell's, she said it's all she can do not to tell her story.
"I just have to bite my tongue not to say, 'Are you sure you want to buy that?' "
Contributing: Laura Hancock; E-mail: awelling@desnews.com