Nanjing, Jiangsu Province – Ms. Zhao was recently pricked in the mouth by a syringe needle while eating ribs. The ribs consumed by Ms. Zhao were purchased from Yonghui Supermarket. She questioned, “How can consumer health be guaranteed?” This incident quickly became a hot topic on Baidu on May 27.
On May 25, a video posted by Ms. Zhao online showed her holding a broken syringe needle, approximately the length of a finger joint, with a piece of uneaten rib meat still in the bowl below her hand.
In the caption of the video, Ms. Zhao wrote, “Bought ribs from Yonghui Supermarket, found a needle in my mouth? How can consumer health be guaranteed?”
On the 26th, Ms. Zhao told the mainland media Upstream News that the ribs in the video were purchased on the 24th from the Yonghui Supermarket Wuyue Plaza store in Nanjing. She felt a foreign object pierce her mouth while consuming this rib meat in a stew, discovering a needle stuck in the middle of the bone. Fortunately, her mouth was not pierced.
Ms. Zhao stated, “The supermarket is willing to compensate and provide a certificate of inspection, but they are not willing to guarantee for any subsequent health problems for consumers.”
It is currently uncertain whether the needle could be carrying any viruses. Ms. Zhao wanted the supermarket to provide a guarantee, but the supermarket said they could not meet her demands. She has filed a complaint with 12315 to address the issue.
Many netizens speculated about where the needle might have come from upon seeing this news.
User “a703878503” commented, “Such a thick needle, still broken, most likely from vaccination when the pig was alive, too harsh, ended up in the meat.”
User “沙場秋點兵” believed it was “water-injected meat, the needle broke in the meat during injection.”
User “Dyemn” stated, “This is related to supermarkets because they have to sign contracts with pig farms during procurement to ensure that there are no needles in the pork. When the pig farm vaccinates, it is inevitable that the needle breaks in the live pig. However, there should be a record for tracing, to remove the needle during slaughter. The pig farm should be responsible for compensation and investigate the responsibility for not recording the injections.”
More netizens expressed concerns about food safety in mainland China. “荀衛rh” said, “Terrifying, how can food safety be guaranteed?”