Jack In Box Sued Over Tainted Tacos -- Tests Showed Bleeding Cook Had Hepatitis

SAN DIEGO - More than a year before a handful of lawsuits was filed against the parent company of Jack in the Box over tainted meat, the chain was accused of serving tacos smeared with hepatitis-infected blood.

Steve Anania and his wife, Kate, sued San Diego-based Foodmaker Inc. in Superior Court Oct. 17, 1991, alleging they found congealed blood on tacos they purchased.

The lawsuit, set for trial within two months, seeks damages for product liability, breach of contract, negligence and medical expenses.

Foodmaker spokeswoman Sheree Zizzi said the company planned a vigorous defense.

On Nov. 5, 1990, the Ananias say they went through the drive-through lane at a Jack in the Box restaurant in Bonsall and bought six tacos and two steak fajitas. Steve Anania ate one of the tacos on the way home, inside the darkened car.

When they arrived home, Kate Anania took a taco out of the bag. She says she took a bite, then looked down to see congealed blood on her food.

"It was sickening. There was blood all over the food, on the wrappers," Steve Anania said yesterday. Kate "made herself throw up. But we didn't know if we would get AIDS. It was horrible."

The couple said they returned to the restaurant and found a cook working with a hand wrapped in blood-soaked toweling. They said the assistant manager refused to remove the cook. The couple also wanted him tested for AIDS and other blood diseases.

The Ananias said they reported the restaurant to the San Diego County Health Department. A department official, in turn, ordered that the cook, identified as Sylvester Hernandez, be removed from the eatery temporarily.

An attorney representing the Ananias, Garo Mardirossian, said Foodmaker managers later assured the couple that the employee's blood would be tested.

Several weeks later, they say Foodmaker officials told them the test showed that everything was "all right."

But when the tests were subpoenaed by the Ananias' lawyers, the tests showed Hernandez had hepatitis A, the lawyer said.

Blood tests performed on the couple showed neither had contracted any blood diseases, the couple said.