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Dickey's, the restaurant chain that mistakenly substituted for sugar a toxic cleaning product that critically injured a customer who ingested it, is suing the chemical agent's manufacturer and distributor for $5 million.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit of Utah filed the lawsuit Thursday, saying US Foods Inc. and Ecolab Inc. are responsible for the incident in which a worker at the South Jordan restaurant poured sodium hydroxide, which is the active ingredient in drain cleaner, commonly known as lye, into a sweet-tea dispenser in 2014.

The restaurant chain holds the defendants responsible for failing to label or individually package containers of the odorless, colorless grainy powder in Clean Force Fryer Cleaner, the document says.

Finger Lickin Brands LLC had a franchise agreement with Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants Inc. and "was required to purchase food and nonfood products exclusively from US Foods," the document says.

Ecolab manufactured and packaged the cleaner, the document says, which was distributed by US Foods as "a white, fragrance free, granular powder [and] hazardous chemical ... in large, unmarked plastic bags placed in cardboard boxes."

In the case of the incident, the document says, the plastic bag was "separated from the exterior card board box" and "subsequently ... poured into a different container."

On Aug. 10, 2014, an employee "mistakenly thought the Clean Force product in the new container was sugar" and mixed some of it into a drink dispenser available for customers, the document says. The solution was 67 percent sodium hydroxide.

Jan Harding, a 67-year old customer, took a drink of the concoction shortly after it was prepared, the document says, and "immediately began choking as her mouth and esophagus burned."

Harding's husband took her to a hospital in "extremely critical condition" before helicopter took her to the burn unit at University Hospital, according to then-South Jordan police Officer Sam Winkler.

Doctors insert a breathing tube into Harding's throat, and she didn't speak for six days. Harding left the hospital later that month.

"I'm hoping to see and hear some good come of this," she later said, and "... see [restaurants] become proactive to keep this from happening to anyone else."

Dickey's Barbecue Pit of Utah settled a suit from Harding, but its reputation was "severely damaged," the court document says.

Nationwide news coverage and social media followed the story. The food chain's damaged reputation resulted in "past and future economic losses," the document says, such as loss of profits, business opportunities and operating revenues. It also contributed to the "diminished value of the FLB restaurant," the document says.

The cleaning product, Dickey's Barbecue Pit of Utah said in the court document, lacked "appropriate or adequate packaging ... [with] safety warnings regarding the nature and use of the product ... especially when those products are being sold in the food service industry."

Specifically, the document says, Dickey's Barbecue Pit of Utah believes the defendants should have distinguished the cleaning product's appearance, smell and packaging to "clearly [identify] the product as a potentially dangerous cleaner."

The plaintiff is asking for compensation of at least $5 million, plus interest and legal fees.

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