Meat grinder sends woman to hospital

A local woman is recovering after a bizarre accident at a local Kroger store. A company spokesperson said she got her hand caught in a meat grinder as she cleaned the machine.

It happened just after six in the evening at the Kroger store in Wabash. Kroger Spokesperson, John Elliott told NewsChannel 15 the pharmacist who was working and an off-duty EMT who was shopping were both able to give the employee immediate care following the incident.

Paramedics were called in to the store. The injured employee was then flown to Parkview Hospital for emergency care.

"Obviously our focus at this time is to make sure [the associate] is taken care of," said Elliot, underscoring safety as one of the store's core values.

"There's an internal investigation in terms of exactly what happened. It involves our facility engineering group that oversees not just buildings, but equipment and store operations people," Elliot added.

The employee had completed the comprehensive training program on the equipment in the meat department, according to Elliott. He noted injuries within the company are uncommon, but when they do happen, they are usually slip-and-falls.

"I'm not aware of any similar incident having happened in our operating division," said Elliot. "This may very well be a first of its kind."

Kroger officials did not release he injured employee's name. They did say she is relatively new to the company.

The extent of her injury is not known, but Parkview Hospital Spokesperson John Perlich said the woman was in fair condition Thursday afternoon.