By C1 Staff
KENT COUNTY, Mich. — A lawsuit claiming that a serving of chicken tacos sickened 250 inmates is now a federal case against Kent County and Aramark.
MLive reports that the suit was originally filed in Kent County Circuit Court but has been moved to U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids as of April 7.
The suit names Kent County, Sheriff Larry Stelma and Armark Corp., Aramark Correctional Services LLC and Aramark Management LLC as defendants.
The tacos were served in mid-April 2012, and Undersheriff Jon Hess said that some of the inmates had complained that the food didn’t smell right, didn’t taste right, and that they weren’t going to eat it.
Jail workers switched to making sandwiches, but a quarter of jail inmates were already rushing to their toilets.
Inmates suffered diarrhea, cramps, pain and suffering, according to the suit.
Aramark is being accused of mishandling the food, not using equipment properly to prevent food from spoiling and failing to hire and train enough people to prevent food spoilage or contamination.
The suit accuses Stelma and Kent County of being aware “of the substantial risk of serious harm to the inmates of the Kent County Jail presented by improper food handling techniques, potentially resulting in a mass poisoning like that which occurred in mid-April 2012.”
Aramark has been in the news often lately with reports of food mishandling, including maggots found near a food line, food shortages, and improper contact between workers and prisoners.
Prisoners in Saginaw County complained last month that they were served food that had been in the trash, and food partially eaten by rodents was served at another prison serviced by Aramark.