Ice Cream Worker Sues After Losing Fingers to Frostbite

As of press time, more than 260 people have checked in to the Mister Cookie Face ice cream plant in Lakewood, New Jersey on Facebook, many of them truck drivers who have commented about the status of their shipments, about their on-the-job lunches ("Beef ravioli and coffee, warmed by the truck defroster fan") or about where they're heading with the load of frozen treats they just picked up. A handful of workers have posted complaints—"Had to take my nose ring out for work!" one woman wrote—but if anyone has a right to leave an angry comment or ten, it's Raheem Muhammed.

The Elizabeth, New Jersey man has filed a lawsuit alleging that he lost parts of several fingers to frostbite after working at that same Mister Cookie Face plant. According to NJ.com, both of his hands were so damaged from exposure to the cold that it "[resulted] in the partial amputation of numerous fingers."  Muhammed says that he sustained his injuries on April 16, 2016 while handling the company's ice cream products during and after the freezing process.

In the lawsuit, Muhammed alleges that the company is negligent when it comes to the safety of its employees and that Mister Cookie Face does not properly equip them for the working conditions that they may encounter. "The gloves which [Muhammed] was provided for handling the ice cream products were woefully inadequate for handling frozen ice cream products," the lawsuit says.

You don't think about working at an ice cream plant as being a ridiculously dangerous job (or maybe you don't think about ice cream plants at all), but it can be, for the very reasons Muhammed alleges in his lawsuit.

"The sub-zero temperature helps to preserve the freshness of the ice cream, but can also be dangerous for employees without the right precautions in place," KSHB observed in a report about the Blue Bell Ice Cream warehouse in Kansas City. "In fact, if the employees aren't careful, they can freeze their eyelashes, eyebrows and get frostbite." One Blue Bell worker told the station that his "nostrils are frozen" after inhaling twice in the company's -20 degree freezer.

MUNCHIES has reached out to Fieldbrook Foods, Mister Cookie Face's parent company, for comment but has not yet received a response.