The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the fried chicken's head that was found in an order of McDonald's chicken wings. 13News has also learned that the USDA investigators will be visiting the Newport News woman who said she found the fried chicken head in her order.

It's not a food safety issue, but the government wants to know how the chicken head got into a package labeled Chicken Wings.

Health inspectors, who checked out the restaurant last week, said they've never seen anything this strange turn up. They said everything checked out all right when they sorted through what was left of the wings at the Warwick Boulevard McDonald's.

Inspectors said the fried chicken's head was never a health hazard. "It was deep fried.  That's another reason why it wouldn't impact heavily on the public's health. It was thoroughly cooked at beyond 240 degrees Fahrenheit and basically cooked anything that might have been on it," said peninsula health inspector Arthur Austin.

Austin also said it would have been very easy for any employee to have missed seeing it in the frying process, since it blended right in with the rest of the processed chicken. "They open the bags and dump them into the baskets for frying. Everyone is moving fast. They don't pay attention to the parts. They don't handle them separately. They just throw them in the fryer."

The Health Department said the processing plant, which packs the meat, is responsible for the chicken's head.

Inspectors said the restaurant in question has never had any problems with its health inspections. Its owner is known to be strict on safety and sanitation guidelines with employees. The restaurant's permit is due for renewal on Friday and inspectors said they expect it to pass.

John Smith, the owner of the McDonald's where the chicken head was allegedly discovered, was not available for comment. 

Our thanks to James Weldon for passing this story along.  We did some research on this and here's what we found below.

From the "You Deserve a Beak Today" category, on 28 November 2000, a breaded deep-fried chicken head was found in a box of chicken wings purchased at a McDonald's in Newport News, Virginia. Katherine Ortega says she discovered the McNoggin while divvying up the wings at home for her family of four. (Fried chicken wings were being test-marketed in that area.) 

On 30 November 2000, the Ortegas announced they had hired a lawyer and were contemplating a lawsuit against McDonald's. Legal experts don't think the family would win an award much higher than a couple of thousand dollars because no one ate the piece or was physically harmed by it. (Even in our litigious society, harm has to be demonstrated, and it's not enough just to claim "I was grossed out by this" to gain the big bucks. A small award to compensate for the shock of the discovery might not be out of order, though.) 

Katherine Ortega has posed for a number of photos of her holding the chicken head, which may work against her if she tries to seek compensatory damages for psychological harm arising out of the incident. A jury will have a difficult time believing she is now nauseated by chicken or has difficulty sleeping after being presented with photographic evidence of her repeatedly and voluntarily handling the offensive item. 

Those who have taken the photographs note the fried batter on the item looks to be the same as on the chicken wings. The McNoggin, however, has yet to be examined by experts. John E. Smith, owner of the McDonald's in question and two others, states "My ability to conduct a thorough investigation has been delayed because I have not been given an opportunity to examine the object in question. Although I have made several requests to see this object, the customer refuses to give me that opportunity." 

An enforcement officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture who is looking into the case is at a loss to explain how the head ended up in Ortega's order of wings. The first thing that happens in the processing of live chickens into poultry parts is their beheading, with the heads immediately being discarded. The carcasses then go on to the next stage (which is being dropped into the boiling water to de-feather them). Though the process is mostly mechanized, a plant operator helps with evisceration (the removal of the bird's internal organs) and an on-site USDA inspector is supposed to check each and every chicken. How both  could have missed a chicken head going through is a mystery. 

At this point, not enough is known to determine if anyone is trying to hoax anyone else, if a poultry plant worker or McDonald's employee thought he'd have himself an innocent bit of fun, or if something went severely wrong with the food processing procedures at the plant and thus a McNoggining could happen again. Further information will be provided as soon as it is available.