GALVESTON, Texas – It's an unsettling image that has one mother demanding answers from the Galveston Independent School District.
Take a closer look, as this is what Erin Hernandez says her 11-year-old son, Desmond, found in his chicken strip during lunch while at Scott Collegiate Academy in Galveston late last week.
"It's unacceptable and unexplainable to me. The way I feel as a parent, that's my job to protect him and that's why I'm speaking out," Hernandez said.
Desmond never bit into the tender, nor was he injured. Instead his mother said he immediately turned the food over to a cafeteria worker.
Hernandez said there's no doubt in her mind the object found in the chicken was a blade, but where it came from remains the mystery.
"I want an explanation of this could get in his chicken strip first of all ... if he noticed it, why didn't they notice it?" Hernandez said.
The district released a statement about the matter that reads:
"On Friday, November 17, 2017, during the last lunch period of the day, a student at Collegiate Academy Middle School, handed a chicken strip to a school official and reported that he noticed a sharp object protruding from his chicken strip. The student reported that he did not take a bite out of the strip. The student was not injured and his parent was immediately notified. The incident was reported to the cafeteria manager and the chicken strip was secured. According to GISD Director of Food and Nutrition, procedures were followed and the Broker for Tyson Foods was immediately contacted. A photo of the strip, the box from Tyson and the processing information was provided to the Broker, so that Tyson Foods could immediately start their investigation. As a precautionary measure, Galveston ISD Police Department also initiated an investigation.
"Galveston ISD takes this matter very seriously, and we are deeply concerned that it appears something of this nature has happened at one of our schools and to one of our students. Galveston ISD Police Department continues to investigate this matter and will work closely with Tyson Foods during this ongoing investigation."
Still, Hernandez said more needs to be done to ensure something like this never happens again.
"Give me some kind of comfort there when my child goes to school next week he's OK and at this point I don't feel that way," Hernandez said.
The Tyson chicken company released the following statement:
"Food safety is extremely important to us, so we take this matter very seriously. Following our established protocol to manage consumer issues, we have been in contact with the school district to find out more about the product involved and what happened. We're unable to comment more until we’ve completed our investigation."