A Delta Air Lines passenger traveling from Chicago (ORD) to Seattle (SEA) says he was poisoned by a toxic plant, black nightshade, found in his first class salad, which made him violently ill. To make matters worse, the flight attendant grabbed hte “evidence” and refused to hand it over.
Delta Passenger Claims He Was Poisoned By Toxic Weed In First Class Meal
The passenger told View From The Wing that he fell violently ill mid-flight, experiencing nausea and abdominal pain consistent with solanine poisoning. When he attempted to preserve the evidence, a flight attendant allegedly confiscated the contaminated salad, calling it “Delta’s property.” After landing, paramedics met the flight and treated the passenger. Here’s how he describes what happened:
1) While eating my entree (Southwest Harvest Salad) in the dimmed cabin, I tasted something “off” as I swallowed a mouthful of my otherwise delightful salad.
2) I turned on the overhead light to look more closely at the salad, and promptly found a sizeable stalk of black nightshade (Solanum nigra), flowers and all.
3) This is a well known toxic plant that is a weed routinely found in agricultural settings.
4) I had unknowingly ingested an unknown amount before noticing it.
5) I became quite ill, with all of the symptoms I now know to be typical: intestinal cramping, diarrhea, excess salivation, nausea, vomiting.
6) Fortunately, I was able to save the uneaten stalk of nightshade. To provide to the paramedics who took me off the plane at Sea-Tac. So they’d know what they were dealing with. I informed lead flight attendant Larisa of my intention to save the specimen
7) Unfortunately, while in the forward bathroom being very sick, Larisa took the specimen. She refused to return it to me. She refused to show it to the paramedics. She claimed it was “Delta’s property now”.
Delta said it is investigating the claim and that food safety is taken seriously, but offered no further comment pending review and to this point, has offered the passenger only 3,000 SkyMiles in compensation.
My Take
I don’t doubt that something went wrong here: the photos clearly show what looks like black nightshade, a plant known to be toxic. And the reported symptoms line up. But the more disturbing part isn’t the contamination itself (accidents can happen in food prep, though this is a huge error), it is the alleged handling of the situation afterward.
If a flight attendant really confiscated the food and refused to show it to the paramedics or even document the incident, that’s an enormous procedural failure. Unlike a peanut allergy that is due to the passenger’s own health, this was poison served on a tray…and it was not the property of Delta. Evidence was thankfully photographed, but it should not have been snatched from the passengers without his consent.
If this passenger’s story holds up (and I have no reason to doubt it), Delta has a bigger issue than a single bad salad: a breakdown in accountability.
CONCLUSION
Mistakes in catering can happen anywhere, but serving poison is a glaring error and the mishandling of evidence makes it worse. Whether the salad contained black nightshade or not, Delta owes transparency and a clear process review. I don’t think it is asking to much to say that the first class meal should never come with a side of poison…
Delta has a lot of issues that are just halfway hidden behind the curtain. Their culture of truly not caring about passengers is simply trickling down from the top. It’s highly unfortunate but not really surprising if you’ve been watching them for the last decade or two.
Kinda wild that Tim has stayed silent about this so far… maybe Delta is cooked on this one…
Hes busy trying to find something United did that was worse
He’d have to go back to Dr. Dao #UA3411 #NeverForget
(“Oh, yeah… well, at least we don’t beat the living shhh outta our overbooked passengers then engage in a coordinated character assassination campaign against them only to settle for a large undisclosed lump sum…” I can see him saying.)
To be fair it is Nightmare before Christmas time of year.
More than two months beforehand? So now Independence Day timeframe is in May?
More like the ‘Nightshade’ before Christmas!
The war on Christmas will continue until Christmas returns Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Ever consider maybe they kept the item because they need to confirm what is so they can complete an internal investigation and pull any potential product from other flights if needed? Not all actions are ill-intention-ed.
Hi Jason,
You make a reasonable comment.
Unfortunately, flight attendant told me specifically that she had thrown it in the trash in the rear of the plane.
I urged her to recover it. She later told me she did. But would not show it to me or return it.
Yay! Our hero has emerged! Woohoo!
They can do that… after the guy gets medical treatment
You brought that on the plane and planted it to try and get a lawsuit. Who are you kidding. Good luck.
Flight attendants should have picked up any remaining similar meals and immediately contacted catering to report the toxic weed. There have been recalls for packaged lettuces in the past for nightshade growing in beds and greenhouses. It’s a shame it happened to one passenger, but ignoring the risks for others unimaginable.
Hope J.A.R. (supposedly the guy who this happened to) sees that his story is also being covered here (Gary had posted about it yesterday.)
Hello @1990
Just saw it got posted here as well.
Very appreciative of all the folks getting the word out.
To those who think it’s all b.s……I understand your skepticism. But this really did happen as I’ve described it.
We’re with you! Thank you again for looking out for the rest of us. Would’ve definitely missed this myself.
@ Maryland
Shortly after notifying the flight attendant of what I found, I asked if they were checking for the nightshade in the meals of other passengers.
I was told by FA that this particular salad entree (Southwest Harvest Salad) was only available in first class and that only one other passenger on my flight had chosen it.
So presumably they were doing what you suggested they should.
Fingers crossed that I’m the only one who ate the nightshade.
(Guts totally back to normal by yesterday, FYI)
Happy to hear about your recovery. And glad to know they at least retrieved the other meal. God bless, Maryland
Please keep us updated as to the disposition of Delta regarding this incident.
It’s surprising the FA didn’t collect the liquid stool from the lavatory to hide the DNA evidence of undigested Solanum Nigra.
Note that the correct botanical name of the so-called plant is “Solanum nigrum”.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
In such a case, most people would not be able to determine the cause.
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
Eating is a risk and a hazard on an airplane. Or anywhere.
Good one; just don’t eat; noted… /s
You are the kind of person that misses the point and dilutes and distracts away from the topic at hand. You are part of the litter that is the internet.
Ridiculous….
Unworthy of even this comment but hope you rethink what you are contributing to the society.
XOV, I’ll presume you were referring to TonyT, but, regardless, could it be possible that he is merely astroturfing for Delta’s benefit… as you suggested, trying to distract from the very real PR nightmare that this could be for that company… hmm. Curious!
Perhaps it’s just a coincidence but how is it that just one person, who happens to be an expert w/ that plant based on his own posts, ended up being the only one inflicted w/ poisoning by it?
Oh, Tim, never change.
I never have failed the tough questions.
This isn’t about spoiled food. It is an accusation of adulterated food.
There has to be questions
The fact that so few are asking questions is what is concerning
That seems like pretty serious accusation (that he ‘planted’ the plant)…
Lol and thanks for living up to what I said 😀
Ah, the victim-blaming and character-assassination begins! It really is a Dr. Dao-aftermath 2.0, isn’t it?!
Waiting for the inevitable lawsuit.
Did the passenger die ? Lawsuit against whom ? The catering company or Chicago O’hare ? The Delta flight attendant duties are listed in corporate issues handbooks including keeping the cabin clean during and after meal service.
As if ‘damages’ can only happen once someone dies… laughable.
Ya ever hear of the lady who burned your groin because of super-hot McDonalds’ coffee? She didn’t did. But the punitive damages were the real kicked there; the court decided that corporation needed to be punished for its negligence as could be an outcome here, lest they forget.
As to attempts to deflect to employees or third parties, my goodness, please better understand vicarious liability and how contributors can also be liable, in-part. Could be a ‘bad day’ for more than just Delta, but they may take the brunt of the ‘problem’ here.
Finally, if you don’t literally work for Delta, you’re missing out on a paycheck from their public relations and legal departments… ooof.
That passenger seems to know an awful lot about plants. Digestion symptoms would take at least a couple hours to several. Even so the liability rests on the catering company and airport operations ; not Delta. Sounds like BS.
Tim, you don’t have to use multiple aliases.
On your silly attempt shifting blame to third parties, it doesn’t matter; Delta can later sue them to attempt to recovery. But, for this potential plaintiff, naw man, he’s got a case against Delta. And, if Delta’s gonna try to defame him for calling them out, I smell punitive damages…. Better for Delta to settle quickly!
As the guy who ate the nightshade, I want to clarify a few more things that seem to have been misunderstood by at least a few commenters:
1) I absolutely do NOT think there was anything ill-intentioned (or intentional at all) about that toxic plant making its way into my meal. Someone has made reference to my meal having been “adulterated”, which implies it was done intentionally. I do NOT believe that happened. Weeds make their way into salad greens routinely. Just like you occasionally find aphids or a caterpillar in your broccoli, etc
2) My issues with Delta’s handling of the situation have to do with their response. Specifically the decision to throw away the plant before it could be looked into, and to deny the paramedics access to the plant.
3) I am not seeking some big lawsuit, as several commenters assume. I simply found Delta’s offer of 3000 skymiles to be oddly/inappropriately low, given what I’d just been through. I am still waiting to hear something further from Delta.
4) I have never referred to myself as an “expert” in regards to this particular species, as one commenter states. I do have a professional background in horticulture, and I have quite a bit of experience identifying weeds in agricultural settings, just like many other people. Furthermore, I agree with posts saying it is NOT the same plant as what is known as “deadly nightshade”. I have never suggested otherwise, or that I was at risk of dying.
5) My primary interest, from the moment I recognized what was in my salad, was to get the word out for safety. I’m an educator. That’s what I do. The more people who are aware, the fewer who are likely to accidentally ingest.
6) While the decision by a staff member to throw the weed in the trash was not great, it is not clear to me that it was malicious. Wrong? Sure. But which of us hasn’t done something in a stressful moment that later turned out to have been the wrong move? I do recall the flight attendant saying she was very sorry this had happened to me.
I hope Delta is doing the right things behind the scenes. And I hope they reach out to me so we can have a reasonable discussion about what happened.
But this doesn’t have to be some big fight.
Thank you to all who have been supportive.
And to those skeptics who accuse me of b.s…..I get it. Modern life is full of scammers. Just doesn’t happen to be the case here.