Rat in hotpot shocks pregnant woman, shuts down restaurant in eastern China
Family meal at popular restaurant ends with hospital check for mother and, reportedly, an offer of an abortion in the latest in a string of food safety scandals
A hotpot restaurant in eastern China has been shut down and a pregnant woman is undergoing health checks after a dead rat was found in a family’s meal.
Authorities in Weifang, Shandong province, have suspended the branch of popular hotpot restaurant chain Xiabu Xiabu in the latest in a string of food safety scandals in China.
A man from Weifang surnamed Ma said he and his family were eating at the restaurant on Thursday night when, after a few bites, his wife found a dead rat in the soup.
Shanghai-based Kankan News quoted Ma as saying that restaurant staff had told him: “If you are worried about the baby, then we’ll give you 20,000 yuan (US$3,000) to abort it.”
Ma said the restaurant had offered compensation of 5,000 yuan, a sum he was prepared to negotiate after his wife had completed a hospital check-up.
On Sunday, the Market Supervision Bureau of Kuiwen district, Weifang, confirmed on its official WeChat account that it had received a complaint about a rat in hotpot soup on Friday.