A McDonald's restaurant.A Cleveland, Tenn., woman is in the hospital after allegedly finding tiny shards of metal in an ice cream she purchased at a McDonald's, she said.
Savannah Blackwell, 22, said she bought ice cream cones with two of her aunts Wednesday at the McDonald's on North Lee Highway.
What she thought were small specks of vanilla bean ended up being small shards of metal after close inspection, she said.
Blackwell said she returned to the McDonald's, where the manager refunded her money.
Blackwell and her aunts checked into SkyRidge hosptal for examination after experiencing "a sore throat, like when you first get strep throat," she said, as well as a strong taste of metal in her mouth.
"I can't get the taste of metal out of my mouth," Blackwell said in a telephone interview from her hospital bed. "When I brush my teeth, it gets worse."
X-rays were taken but nothing was found, Blackwell said. The women were dismissed about 4:30 a.m. and told to return if they experienced abdominal pains, pain in the lower back or bloody stool.
Blackwell returned about 12 hours later with those symptoms, she said. Blood tests were taken but results were not available Thursday evening.
Her two aunts had no symptoms and did not return to the hospital, she said.
A woman who identified herself as a manager of the McDonald's said the ice cream portion of the machine, which also makes shakes, is shut down.