A male student found a small piece of metal in his order at Pita Pit the week before winter break, the store’s owner confirmed this week.

Store owner Daniel Corno confirmed that a student called “at 2 a.m.” to report the piece of metal, which turned out to be a shard from a knife. The student – who declined to speak to The Hatchet – was given 50 free pitas for the potential harm that could have come from the incident, Corno said.

The following day, Corno said, he took the student to Pita Pit’s kitchen and found that one of the “choppers” – a knife with an upward curved blade used to dice vegetables – was the source of the metal.

According to the chain’s corporate offices, each Pita Pit franchise is independently owned and operated. Pita Pit’s corporate office directed all questions to Corno.

Corno said the piece of metal came from the chopper’s blade when one of the plastic rings preventing metal-on-metal contact moved down the shaft of the knife, shifting the way the plastic was positioned between the blades. As a result, a piece of the blade broke off into the student’s pita.

“We’re just lucky that the student wasn’t injured at all,” Corno said.

Corno said he has removed the damaged equipment and plans to replace it with a new, safe chopper.

“I have run this Pita Pit for six years, and I have never seen an incident like this,” Corno said. “Obviously this doesn’t happen every day. Of course this is not a reoccurring thing.”