Alarming find in school student's lunch prompts investigation
The student was eating his lunch when something hairy caught his eye.
WARNING — GRAPHIC CONTENT: A Chinese school student was eating lunch at his school canteen when he spotted something peculiar in his meal. He picked up the object in question to investigate it further — only to reveal it was a rat's head.
The student recorded his discovery and posted it online earlier this month, instigating a wave of criticism of the school, based in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, which claimed the meat was instead a piece of duck neck, a delicacy in China.
As public pressure mounted, the school published a statement several days later in response to the incident, CNN reports.
“Our investigation found that the video was indeed shot at our school canteen but its content does not match the facts,” the statement read.
This aligned with the canteen worker's initial identification of the meat, who was overheard in the student's video calling it "duck meat".
Chinese government scrutinised for low standards of food safety
The rat head discovery is the latest in ongoing concerns for food safety in the country, with the Chinese government under fire for not being transparent around the issue.
A government offical appeared on Jiangxi Radio and Television Station and said authorities had "repeatedly compared the object and confirmed it was indeed a piece of duck neck" with the student posting a "clarification" video to confirm this, however, the public were not convinced.
After relentless public pressure, the Jiangxi government announced a provincial-level investigation into the incident and rallied workers from different industries to determine once and for all what the object was, with animal experts concluding it was indeed the head of a rodent.
The school canteen's hospitality licence has been reportedly revoked and the company that operates it has received a maximum penalty under food safety laws.
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