A North Carolina restaurant employee was arrested Wednesday, accused of putting a substance believed to be rat poison into the shredded cheese to be used on pizzas, authorities said.
Ricky Lee Adami, 59, was charged with distributing food containing noxious/deleterious material and was being held on $100,000 secured bond, police said in a news release.
A manager at Primo Pizza located in Fayetteville noticed the unknown substance when he was mixing the cheese, prompting him to check surveillance video to see who had prepared the pizza topping, police said.
The manager then called authorities, who collected all the contaminated cheese before any could be served to customers.
Adami has a criminal history, including multiple DUI convictions as well as larceny and burning of a public building, the Fayetteville Observer reported.