Woman's Doughnut Injury Claim Turned Over to Department of Agriculture

The Ohio Department of Agriculture now is handling the case involving a woman who said a doughnut caused burns to her mouth.

The 63-year-old North Canton woman recently told police a doughnut she bought at a local doughnut shop had fizzed and caused irritation inside her mouth. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary with the doughnut, though, she said in the report.

Her dentist had confirmed burns to her mouth, according to the report.

The claim was sent to the Stark County Health Department, which investigated the doughnut shop and eventually handed the case over to the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

"We didn't see anything at that location that would have contaminated the doughnut in the way the woman is describing," said Paul DePasquale, director of environmental health at the Stark County Health Department.

The doughnuts are made at a separate location and shipped to the company's shops in the area, DePasquale said. The facility that makes the doughnuts is monitored not by the Stark County Health Department, but the Ohio Department of Agriculture.

"Whatever got into the doughnut would have to have happened at the other facility," he said.

He said the Stark County Health Department was never in possession of the doughnut; all the department did was handle the woman's claim.

North Canton Patch is awaiting a comment from the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Food Safety division.