An 18-second video circulated online on September 7 showing a small animal moving in the satay sauce of a takeaway beef noodle dish reportedly bought from a restaurant in the Kwai Hing or Kwai Chung area. Reports and the video uploader described it as a live or newborn rat, but its identity had not been established through testing.
The diner or uploader reportedly contacted Hong Kong’s Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD). The department was reported to have collected the food container and sent staff to inspect the restaurant.
The order was variously described as satay beef noodles or rice noodles, with one report also mentioning an omelette. Ming Pao identified the business as Hua Jie Bing Shi in Huaxing Industrial Building, although other reports referred more generally to a restaurant in Kwai Hing or Kwai Chung.
Restaurant staff said they were shocked by the incident and that the business had operated for more than a year. They said pest-control cleaning or inspections were carried out about once or twice a month, although reports differed on the exact frequency.
The restaurant planned to close for one day, reportedly on September 8, to carry out a thorough cleaning.
The owner, identified in one report as Mike, described the incident as frightening and exaggerated. He said a live rat would be difficult to explain and that he did not want to speculate about whether the incident was a prank.
An employee said all the restaurant’s CCTV cameras were out of order. The staff member said the restaurant would initially inspect the premises rather than pursue employees.
The supplied reports did not provide FEHD findings, any enforcement action or confirmation of what the object in the container was. They also did not establish how it entered the food.