Video shows woman spitting out tea made w/ toxic chemical

SALT LAKE CITY (KABC) -- Surveillance video shows a Utah woman sipping and spitting out tea that was accidentally made with a toxic chemical back in August.

The recently released footage shows Jan Harding take a sip of her iced tea. She is then shown spitting it out and then rinsing her mouth out with water.

The incident happened at Dickey's Barbecue. Authorities said an employee unintentionally put lye, a heavy-duty cleaner, in a sugar bag, and another worker on Aug. 10 mistakenly mixed it into an iced-tea dispenser.

Later that day, Harding took a single sip of her tea and suffered deep, ulcerated burns to her esophagus. Harding, 67, spent nearly two weeks in a hospital.

Lye is an odorless chemical that looks like sugar. It is used for degreasing deep fryers and is the active ingredient in Drano.

After extensive police investigation, prosecutors determined there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.