A restaurant chain has been forced to apologise after a dead baby rat was found floating in a revolted diner’s bowl of soup.
Horrified customers at a branch of Japanese beef bowl chain Sukiya posted a photo of the roasted rodent floating in a dish of miso broth after staff snubbed their complaint.
The stomach-churning picture first appeared on Google Reviews but instantly spread like wildfire across social media.
The snap, taken at the chain’s Tottori City outlet shows the black rat’s head sticking up out of the soup bowl after it was served up on tray.
Bafflingly, it took two months of social media mockery and a near 10 per cent crash in their parent company’s share price before Sukiya apologised.
The snap was taken on 21st January but the chain only acknowledged the slip in a statement on 22nd March which still refused to use the word ‘rat’.
They said: “Staff neglected to visually check the condition of the product before serving it, and and the product was served without noticing the foreign object.”
It is understood that the rat got into the restaurant through neglected gaps in the outer wall.
The restaurant chain admitted: “Measures were taken to address cracks in the building that could lead to contamination, and employees were given rigorous training on hygiene management, including visual inspection of products before serving,
“We would like to once again apologise to our customers and all concerned parties for the inconvenience and concern caused.
“We will strive to further strengthen our management systems in all stores nationwide to prevent a similar incident from occurring again in the future.”
Health officials shut down the branch for two days but the social media fallout led to a boycott of the chain’s 2,000 outlets across Japan.
The row became so fierce that parent company Zensho Holdings saw its share price plunge by 7.1 per cent after the grisly discovery.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below. Story By: Clive Goodman, Sub-Editor: Simona Kitanovska, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
