On March 22, 2005, Anna Ayala claimed she found a finger in a bowl of chili at a San Jose Wendy’s restaurant. The finger became the talk of the Internet and late-night talk shows, spawned numerous bizarre tips and theories about the source of the finger, and led to dozens of copycat claims. Wendy’s lost tens of millions of dollars.

Turns out the finger belonged to a co-worker of Ayala’s husband who severed it during a construction accident and was planted in the chili in a misguided attempt to extort money from Wendy’s.

In Jan. 2006, Ayala, 40, was sentenced to nine years; the hubby got more than 12 years.

There’s a fine line between legitimate food complaints and food fraud. And Wendy’s can expect more now that it has risen to the number two fast-food outlet, finally passing Burger King and trailing McDonald’s.

KJCT8.com reports a Delta, Colorado, woman says a maggot she found inside the fast-food she ordered Saturday has her worried about the cleanliness of the restaurant it came from. It apparently happened at a local Wendy’s restaurant where Angelica Flores Jensen says she found something crawling around in her fries.

"It was a little maggot in my fries," she described. "I don’t even know if we ate any on our way home. It was just really disgusting."

"All I’ve heard in return is how sorry they are," she said. "But I want to see something being done. It’s really unsanitary and who knows what’s going on in [the store]."

We had a chance to talk to the restaurant’s general manager. He deflected the responsibility. "One thing that I kind of am obsessed with is cleanliness," he said. "We don’t think it came from us."

"We called the health department, we called Orkin," he listed. "They were here and checked us out."

Any and all complaints – real or alleged – must be treated seriously and respectfully. It may be unfair, but it’s part of any public activity, like selling food.