Hong Kong Food Authorities Launch Urgent Probe After Live Baby Rat Found In Meal

A routine lunch break turned into an unsettling ordeal for a woman in Hong Kong after she opened her takeout order and discovered a live, hairless baby rat wriggling inside, the South China Morning Post reported. The customer, identified in some reports as Ms. Shum, works at a property agency in the Kwai Chung district and had picked up a HK$44 (approximately US$5.60) lunch set from Wa Jer Restaurant, located on the ground floor of the Wah Sing Industrial Building.

The set meal, originally priced at HK$49 and sold at a 10 percent discount, included satay beef rice noodles, a ham omelette and a drink. After returning to her office at around 1:00 p.m. local time and removing the plastic lid, the woman discovered a newborn, pink rodent squirming in the thick satay sauce atop her noodles, its eyes not yet fully open. The animal appeared to be struggling to breathe as it moved its legs within the sauce.

An 18-second video clip of the discovery, showing the tiny creature wriggling amid the noodles, was shared on social media and quickly went viral, sparking widespread disgust and heated online debate over how the animal ended up in the meal. Colleagues reportedly helped the woman seal the container before she immediately filed a complaint with Hong Kong's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), which collected the food sample for examination and later inspected the restaurant's premises.

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The restaurant's owner, who identified himself only as Mike, described the incident as "horrifying" and "hard to believe," noting that the beef used in the dish is prepared at high heat, which he said would typically not allow a rodent to survive the cooking process. He said the restaurant had been operating for more than a year without any previous incidents involving rodents or insects in its food, and that he did not believe the incident was a deliberate prank, though he declined to rule it out entirely. He added that the eatery would increase the frequency of its pest control measures following the incident.

Following its inspection, the FEHD confirmed that the establishment held a valid factory canteen licence and had not received any similar complaints in the preceding 12 months. However, the inspection reportedly revealed unsatisfactory hygiene conditions in parts of the premises, prompting authorities to order immediate improvements. The department has since filed charges against the restaurant under the Food Business Regulation in connection with the incident.

The episode has generated significant reaction online, with social media users expressing outrage over the apparent health hazard and some making dark jokes about the meal, including references to a "free portion of rat sashimi." Others said the incident had put them off ordering satay beef noodles altogether. The case remains under investigation, with the restaurant facing regulatory scrutiny as authorities continue to assess the circumstances surrounding how the rodent came to be present in the food.

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