In China, where food hygiene controversy continues, a foreign substance believed to be a bat body was found in an instant malatang sold by a famous food company this time, sparking controversy.
According to local media such as Feng Pai Shimbun on the 30th, Liu of Tianjin released a related video on social media (SNS) on the 27th, claiming that “a foreign substance that appeared to be the body of a bat came out from an instant malatang purchased at a supermarket near my house.”
The video showed a black foreign object that appeared to be a bat wing bamboozle that he claimed was from Maratang.
Ryu said, “While heating malatang and eating soup and ingredients, I thought the child was seaweed and found it was a part of the bat’s wings,” adding, “Both my child and I are too traumatized to eat anything.”
“I’m anxious because I don’t know if the virus will be transmitted through bats, and I don’t know how long the incubation period for the virus in the bat is,” he said. “Who should be held accountable if there is a health problem later?”
Yang Guofu Foods, a related manufacturer, said, “We are investigating the truth.”
Founded in 2003, the company sells malatang and malatang sauce through more than 6,000 franchises and 21 overseas franchises in China.
From 2021, packaged instant malatang is also sold through supermarkets.
In China, food hygiene issues have recently been raised one after another, increasing consumer distrust of food.
In June, a representative case is that rat heads came out of the cafeteria food of a vocational school in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China.
When the allegations were raised, the school and the Nanching city authorities initially explained that it was a “duck neck,” but when the controversy spread, they launched a fact-finding investigation and admitted that the head of the rat was right and punished those involved.
Last month, a video of a man entering a malt storage site, a raw material for beer, at the third plant in Qingdao, Pingdu City, Shandong Province, was released, shocking.
Qingdao Beer explained that the urinators are outsourced personnel, and the urinators are also the loading boxes of malt transportation vehicles, not inside the factory. However, Qingdao Beer was hit by a drop in sales and a sharp drop in stock prices amid consumers’ ignorance.
Recently, a male worker at a butcher shop in Anhui Province posted a video of raw lamb ribs with his mouth on social media, boasting, “With traditional technology, it’s faster than using tools,” and then facing backlash from consumers, saying it was disgusting.
Internet users criticized, “The overall hygiene of the food industry is poor, so I’m afraid to buy food sold outside,” adding, “Special measures should be taken to eradicate bad food, such as strengthening crackdowns and punishments.”
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
