Trending

Mother says Little Caesars pizza gave 2-year-old severe burns

LAWRENCVILLE, Ga. — A mother is upset after she says her 2-year-old daughter got second-degree burns on her hand from a slice of Little Caesars pizza..

Yahoo Lifestyle reported that Koddi Dunn and her family were driving home from visiting the children's grandmother Friday night when they stopped by a Little Caesars in Lawrenceville, Georgia, for pizza.

>> Read more trending news

The family ordered and payed for a Hot-N-Ready pepperoni pizza, which, according to the company, is cooked at 550 degrees.

Dunn said she placed the pizza in the back seat and told her three children to be careful, but when one of her sons reached for a slice, sauce dripped off and landed on 2-year-old Jordyn’s hand.

Dunn said she called the restaurant and was told Hot-N-Ready pizzas are placed in 160-degree warmers after being removed from the oven.

“The employee said they were ‘really backed up’ that night, so customers were handed pizza straight from the oven,” Dunn told Yahoo Lifestyle. “Our pizza was not ready to be eaten — it was falling apart to the touch.”

Dunn said they took Jordyn to urgent care, spending about $1,000 to treat her second-degree burns.

"The safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority. We are aware of this unfortunate incident," Tina Orozco, the director of communications for Little Ceasars, said in a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle Tuesday. "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."

Dunn said the store manager called and left a voicemail Monday night.

“There was no apology or compassion for what happened to my daughter — my family is traumatized,” she said. “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 favorite movie, ‘Annie.’”

Dunn has doubled down on her social media profiles about raising awareness about what happened.

"I won't be quiet or back down until I know that kids are safe," Dunn wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday. "Don't serve a pizza at 400 -500 degrees and then tell me that it's HotNReady. I can't eat that and parents are buying this product assuming that it's safe when IT'S NOT."