A mouse head was discovered in a lunch box meal at a cafeteria in China on Tuesday, triggering internet witticisms and a bigger debate about food safety in the country.
According to state media, the head of a mouse was found in a lunch box in the cafeteria of Xiushan County’s traditional Chinese medicine hospital, quoting a statement from the market regulatory bureau in Chongqing municipality.
A video shared online revealed the mouse head in a serving of moyuya, or duck stewed with konjac, a local specialty.
According to the report, the hospital stated that its cafeteria catering is outsourced to a third-party contractor through government tendering and that it had never encountered such an issue before.
It was the second time a mouse head had apparently found its way into a dish this month after a student at Jiangxi Industry Polytechnic College in Nanchang posted a video of an object with teeth, eyes, and nose in his rice dish at a college cafeteria on June 1.
Following the two instances, many raised concerns about security on social media.
“From now on, cafeterias should install cameras and play surveillance video at the dining hall”, remarked one user on China’s Twitter-like site Weibo.
According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, 518,600 cases of food safety violations were investigated and dealt with across the country in 2022.
Although food safety in China has improved in recent years, market regulators found more concerns in agricultural products and the catering industry last year.
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