Not so ‘hungry’ customer sues Hungry Lion

By GRACE CHAILE-LESOETSA
A LUSAKA resident has sued Hungry Lion Limited in the Lusaka High Court seeking compensation of K 1 million for allegedly serving her food which had maggots.
Ms Bertha Bwale wants the Court to order Hungry Lion Limited to award her general damages , damages for mental anguish, stress, inconvenience, costs and any other relief that the court may deem fit.
In her statement of claim filed into the Lusaka High on Tuesday, Ms Bwale said that Hungry Lion Limited was in the business of food outlets commonly known as “Hungry Lion”.
She stated that on September 5, 2019 in the company of other friends went to Hungry Lion outlet at Manda Hill to have a meal and ordered chicken and chips called “the food”.
Ms Bwale said that she was served with the food as ordered and while eating, she discovered maggots in the food.
She claims she vomited the food while crying with grief as she was nauseated continuously.
She stated that she took the issue to the attention of one of the Hungry Lion staff member who brushed the issue aside.
Ms Bwale said that upon being ignored by the employee she went to report the matter to the Lusaka City Council (LCC) and later the ministry of Health Food and Drugs control laboratory who conducted laboratory tests on the food.
She stated that the results confirmed the existence of maggots in the food, after a foreign matter identifica-tion and bacteriological analysis was duly performed.
The complainant stated that as a result of eating the food, she experienced a running stomach for four and half days , had nausea for two weeks , and generally unwell for two months and she has since failed to eat her favorite food “ chicken and chips” from any other place.
She stated that Hungry Lion Limited failure to provide clean, safe and healthy food, failure to check the state of the food before being served to her were some of the particulars of negligence.
Ms Bwale also claimed that failure to attend to her immediate need or first aid upon the maggots being dis-covered in the food and the same reported to the defendant is negligence.
She claimed that she has as a result suffered damage, loss and inconvenienced in her normal way of life as a result of the said negligence of Hungry Lion Limited.