HOAX! Snake's Head Found in TGI Friday's Dish
Friday, May 8, 2009 | Updated 6:45 PM CDT
Antonio M. Rosario
There are no snakes in this broccoli. At least we don't think there are. Ew.
T.G.I. Friday's says a severed snake head found in a dish of broccoli at one of its upstate New York restaurants was likely planted in the meal.
Diner Jack Pendleton said he found the snake head the size of his thumb mixed in with his vegetables at T.G.I. Friday's in Clifton Park on Sunday. The Ballston Lake man said he thought at first it was a mushroom.
The Carrollton company says Friday it has asked the New York State Police to open a criminal investigation into product tampering.
Spokeswoman Amy Freshwater says the snake head was sent for testing at an independent laboratory that confirmed it had never been cooked and was added to the cooked broccoli.
Freshwater says the company doesn't know who put the head in the meal.
Pendleton says -- he didn't do it.
Pendleton says he hadn't intended to go public, but he e-mailed his cell phone photo of the head to his friends -- and one of them posted it on a consumer complaint Web site.
