Family 'traumatised' after little girl badly burned by slice of pizza
A two-year-old girl had to be treated for second-degree burns after she was badly burned by a slice of piping hot pizza.
Koddi and Wade Dunn of Cornelia, Georgia, in the US, were driving home from a visit to their children’s grandmother on Friday night when they decided to stop for pizza at Little Caesars in Lawrenceville.
The family placed a drive-through order for a Hot-N-Ready pepperoni pizza, which is cooked at a temperature of 550 degrees, according to a 2013 post on the company’s Facebook page.
After paying for their food, Koddi Dunn passed the box to her sons in the back seat, warning them to be careful.
However, when one of the boys lifted a slice, a glob of piping-hot sauce and cheese fell on his little sister, Jordyn, who was sitting next to him in her car seat.
“Suddenly, this piercing scream came from my baby girl,” Ms Dunn, 40, said.
She dove into the back seat while her husband pulled over to the side of the road.
Seeing the skin on Jordyn’s hand blistering from the heat, they immediately drove to Gwinnett Medical Centre, where she was treated for second-degree burns.
Ms Dunn called the restaurant and said she was told that after Hot-N-Ready pizzas are removed from the oven, they’re placed in 160-degree warmers.
“But the employee said they were ‘really backed up’ that night, so customers were handed pizza straight from the oven,” she said.
“Our pizza was not ready to be eaten — it was falling apart to the touch.”
Ms Dunn says a simple warning from the employee could have prevented her daughter’s injuries.
Jordyn’s wounds were cleaned and medicated, and her arm was bandaged.
The family spent about $1400 in urgent-care fees and expects to incur more costs for future treatments at a local burns centre.
Tina Orozco, the director of communications for Little Ceasars, sent a statement to Yahoo saying: “The safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority.
“We are aware of this unfortunate incident.
“Our hearts go out to Jordyn and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery.
“We are continuing to work with the customer and the franchisee of this store. At this time, we believe that all procedures were followed.
“As a precaution, we have a warning label on our pizza boxes. Our customers expect to receive fresh, hot pizza out of the oven.”
Ms Dunn says that a manager left her a voicemail Monday night.
“There was no apology or compassion for what happened to my daughter — my family is traumatised,” she says.
“We change Jordyn’s bandages twice a day and she screams.
“We try to distract her by pretending the medical tape is fingernails and playing her favourite movie, Annie.”
