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Dickey's, the restaurant chain that mistakenly substituted for sugar a toxic cleaning product that critically injured a customer who ingested it, is suing the chemical agent's manufacturer and distributor for $5 million.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit of Utah filed the lawsuit Thursday, saying US Foods Inc. and Ecolab Inc. are responsible for the incident in which a worker at the South Jordan restaurant poured sodium hydroxide, which is the active ingredient in drain cleaner, commonly known as lye, into a sweet-tea dispenser in 2014.

The restaurant chain holds the defendants responsible for failing to label or individually package containers of the odorless, colorless grainy powder in Clean Force Fryer Cleaner, the document says.

Finger Lickin Brands LLC had a franchise agreement with Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants Inc. and "was required to purchase food and nonfood products exclusively from US Foods," the document says.

Ecolab manufactured and packaged the cleaner, the document says, which was distributed by US Foods as "a white, fragrance-free, granular powder [and] hazardous chemical ... in large, unmarked plastic bags placed in cardboard boxes."

In the case of the incident, the document says, the plastic bag was "separated from the exterior cardboard box" and "subsequently ... poured into a different container."

On Aug. 10, 2014, an employee "mistakenly thought the Clean Force product in the new container was sugar" and mixed some of it into a drink dispenser available for customers, the document says. The solution was 67 percent sodium hydroxide.

Jan Harding, a 67-year old customer, took a drink of the concoction shortly after it was prepared, the document says, and "immediately began choking as her mouth and esophagus burned."

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