Restaurant cook jailed for poisoning cooking sauce

A disgruntled Florida chef will face years behind bars for poisoning his restaurant’s sauce with deadly plumber’s lye in an act caught on tape.

Hibachi Express owner, Zhong Kun Jiang, taste-tested the popular Yum Yum sauce as a part of a routine inspection, and was shocked when his mouth began to burn.

After checking surveillance footage he spotted cook Margarito Padillo, 54, load toxic drain cleaner crystals into his pocket, head towards the 55gallon container of Yum Yum sauce, then leave the scene with an empty pocket.  

Jiang took the footage to the police and Padillo was arrested the same day, last June. 

Padillo has now been jailed for seven years.

Jiang said that he was suspicious of the sauce after noticing it looked unusual. After trying a taste he said it burned like something was cutting at his tongue and mouth.

When Jiang confronted his employees about the matter, Padilla urged him not to call the police, causing Jiang to suspect him as the culprit, according to the arrest affidavit.

Hibachi Express (above) owner, Zhong Kun Jiang, taste-tested his restaurant’s popular Yum Yum sauce as a part of a routine inspection, and was shocked when his mouth began to burn

Secret sauce of lyes: Toxic lye drain cleaner was added into the popular dressing

Padilla initially told police he didn’t know anything about the incident, but later confessed after learning that his actions had been captured on surveillance video. 

He said he was angry with the restaurant’s owner over unfair working conditions, according to The Ledger. 

Padilla, from Guadalajara, Mexico, pleaded no contest to introducing a chemical into a food or drink, as part of a deal with prosecutors.

In addition to his seven years behind bars, he will also serve eight years of probation after his prison term. 

Law enforcement has also flagged his case for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be notified upon his release from prison, according to Polk County Jail records.