A Texas woman has sued Torchy’s Tacos after allegedly finding a cow tooth in a barbacoa taco from the chain’s South Congress Avenue location in Austin. Fox News Digital reported that the lawsuit, filed Oct. 13 in Travis County District Court, seeks $250,000.
What the lawsuit claims
Fox News Digital said it independently obtained the complaint, which names plaintiff Nohemi Castillo and alleges she nearly swallowed the object while eating takeout on June 9. The filing cites an order that included the chain’s “Democrat” tacos. A witness statement provided by Castillo’s attorney describes seeing her remove an object from her mouth while eating the takeout.
Castillo’s attorney, Scott Vasquez, told Fox News Digital the company did not acknowledge to him that the object was a cow tooth until local media began reporting on the incident in October. Vasquez provided Fox News Digital with photographs of the tooth next to a tape measure; Fox News Digital also described a photo included in the court filing showing the object on aluminum foil beside what appears to be taco meat.
What Torchy’s says
According to a statement Torchy’s Tacos provided to Austin TV station KVUE, the company’s internal review “identified the item as a cow tooth.” The statement continued: “This can occasionally happen when processing the meat, though it is quite rare.”
The company said its barbacoa comes from natural beef cheek sourced from a supplier and that it has “partnered with our supplier to reinforce their internal procedures to prevent this from happening in the future,” per the statement to KVUE.
