New Jersey woman sues Taco Bell after claiming burrito contained metal screw

A Clifton woman says a burrito from Taco Bell in Passaic had a metal screw inside it, cracking her teeth and setting off a lawsuit that puts the chain’s food-safety controls under a harsh spotlight.

Valentina Colon, 39, filed suit in Passaic County Superior Court in January 2026 against Taco Bell of Passaic and Haza Bell of Northeast, LLC. The complaint says the incident happened on or about June 17, 2025, after Colon bought food at the Taco Bell at 15 Prospect St. in Passaic. The case remains unresolved, and no response from the defendants was reported.

The allegations go beyond a single bad meal. Colon says the burrito contained a metal screw, and the complaint says she broke and chipped teeth and also suffered food poisoning. For restaurant workers, that combination points to more than customer injury litigation. It suggests a breakdown somewhere in the chain of controls that are supposed to keep foreign objects out of food, from prep-area inspections and line checks to equipment upkeep and the way ingredients move through a busy make-line.

That matters in a Taco Bell kitchen because the brand’s menu depends on speed, repetition and a lot of hands on the product. Burritos, tacos, quesadillas and other customizable items are assembled fast, often under pressure to keep service moving. In that kind of operation, a loose fastener, damaged equipment, or a missed visual check can turn into a customer complaint, a workers’ comp headache, or a liability claim that lands on both the restaurant and the operator.

The Passaic location is part of that larger system, and the lawsuit names both the restaurant entity and Haza Bell of Northeast, LLC, which reflects how franchise and operating-company structures can complicate who answers for a safety lapse. When a claim involves a foreign object, the central questions are practical ones: Was the item visible during prep? Was equipment inspected? Did anyone escalate a problem when the line was running? Those are the small, unglamorous steps that are supposed to catch a screw before it reaches a burrito.

For employees and managers, the case is a reminder that food safety is not just a corporate talking point. It is the daily work of checking pans, watching equipment, documenting problems and stopping service when something looks wrong. When those controls fail, the consequences can reach far beyond one ticket on one shift.