Dead mouse found in hotpot restaurant

[KimJongUn]

Dead mouse found in Nanchong hotpot restaurant

Staff Reporter
2015-03-14

The picture of the dead mouse posted to a group chat on WeChat. (Internet photo)

The Wangqingshui hotpot chain in Nanchong, Sichuan province, paid hush money of 2,000 yuan (US$319) per head to customers who saw a dead mouse in one of its hotpots on Wednesday, reports Sina's news web portal.

Local food and drug authorities have been looking into the matter. The store admitted that a dead mouse was found in a hotpot but said they had no idea how it got there.

The incident was revealed by a Chinese internet user who uploaded a photo of the dead mouse to a group chat via Chinese instant messaging app WeChat. The photo showed the mouse's body on a soup spoon emerging from the hotpot. The caption read "I will never eat at Wangqingshui again for the rest of my life and the next one. I never thought such a thing would ever happen to me." A screengrab of the chat which has been circulating online suggests that the user only found the mouse after finishing the hotpot.

Internet users blasted the hotpot chain for neglecting food safety. The person who took the photo was apparently unwilling to talk to reporters.

A staff member at the store said the hotpot where the dead mouse was found was on a table at a corner of the store where three customers ordered three hotpots at around noon on Wednesday. She had scooped all the fish in one of the hotpots twice and added more food but did not find anything odd.

At around 12:45pm, the customers brought the mouse to the attention of a staff member and asked to speak with the store's manager, which attracted attention from other customers. Ge Qing, the store's owner, decided to scrap the bills for all the customers who were eating in the restaurant at the time and gave them each an additional 2,000 yuan (US$319).

He spent 20,000 yuan (US$3,190) in total and has been perplexed by the source of the mouse since the store is checked monthly by pest control. Ge explained to reporters that he did not call the police despites his doubts on how the mouse got into the hotpot at the time because he believed he could sort the affair out with money. He did not ask the customers who found the mouse to leave their contact information.

The administration sent officials to the store to investigate the incident and staff members, after learning of the incident through the microblog posts. No customer has made a complaint against the store yet. The administration did not find any violation after checking the staff members' health permits and the store's operating permit. It has been trying to reach the customers involved and hopes they will get in contact.