For the second time in a month, a mouse head has been found in a lunchbox meal of a cafeteria in China, state media reported on Tuesday, sparking online witticisms and a larger debate about food safety in the country.
The head of a rodent was found in a lunchbox in the cafeteria of a traditional Chinese medicine hospital in Chongqing municipality’s Xiushan County, state media reported, citing a statement from the county’s market regulation bureau.
A video posted online showed the mouse head in a dish of moyuya, or duck stewed with konjac, a local specialty, the China Daily reported.
The hospital said its cafeteria catering is outsourced to a third-party provider through government bidding, and that it had never encountered such an issue before, said the report, citing local media.
A hospital official who did not want to be identified by name, told Reuters to refer to an “official report,” without elaborating.
It was the second time this month that a mouse head has apparently found its way into a dish, 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, the South China Morning Post reported.
Officials at the college could not be immediately reached for comment.
On social media, people expressed concerns over food security following the two incidents.
“From now on, cafeterias should install cameras and play surveillance video in the dining hall,” one user on Sina Weibo said.
Last year, the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation said 518,600 cases of food safety contraventions were investigated and dealt with nationwide.
Although food safety in China has improved in the past few years, inspections by market regulators of products last year did find problems more common among agricultural products and in the catering industry, state media reported.
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