"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> Vox Humana wrote:
>
> > > While there may be some misunderstanding on the part of some people
who
> > think
> > > she was driving or the car was moving at a time, I think the more
> > important
> > > point is that she was careless in putting a cup of hot coffee between
her
> > > legs.
> >
> > If the coffee was served at a normal 140F temperature, she wouldn't have
> > received 3rd degree burns.
>
> Where did we get this normal 140F for coffee? Coffee comes out of my
cheap
> little Cusinart coffee maker at about 176F and the little burner plate
keeps it
> close to that.
>
>
> Boiling hot? They were serving it about 30 degrees under boiling.
>

http://pages.prodigy.net/gaglenn/law...fee/truth.html
"McDonald's also said during discovery that, based on a consultants advice,
it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees fahrenheit to maintain
optimum taste. He admitted that he had not evaluated the safety
ramifications at this temperature. Other establishments sell coffee at
substantially lower temperatures, and coffee served at home is generally 135
to 140 degrees.



Further, McDonald's quality assurance manager testified that the company
actively enforces a requirement that coffee be held in the pot at 185
degrees, plus or minus five degrees. He also testified that a burn hazard
exists with any food substance served at 140 degrees or above, and that
McDonald's coffee, at the temperature at which it was poured into styrofoam
cups, was not fit for consumption because it would burn the mouth and
throat. The quality assurance manager admitted that burns would occur, but
testified that McDonald's had no intention of reducing the "holding
temperature" of its coffee.



Plaintiff's expert, a scholar in thermodynamics applied to human skin burns,
testified that liquids, at 180 degrees, will cause a full thickness burn to
human skin in two to seven seconds. Other testimony showed that as the
temperature decreases toward 155 degrees, the extent of the burn relative to
that temperature decreases exponentially. Thus, if Liebeck's spill had
involved coffee at 155 degrees, the liquid would have cooled and given her
time to avoid a serious burn."