"How Many Times Already?" This Time a Needle Found in School Cafeteria Food... Hygiene Controversy Erupts Again in China

1.5cm Iron Wire Found in Zhong Jiaotong University Cafeteria Meal
"Needle Likely Broken Inside Pig's Body," Explanation Given

Amid ongoing news about food hygiene issues in China, including Qingdao urine beer and butcher shop lamb ribs 'chia balkol,' a recent controversy over a 'needle found in pork' has once again put China's food hygiene status under scrutiny.

A thick iron rod about 1.5 cm long was found in a student cafeteria tray at Jiaotong University (交通大?), a prestigious university in Shanghai, China.
[Photo by Weibo]

According to reports from major foreign media on the 25th, a thick iron needle about 1.5 cm long was found on a student cafeteria tray at Jiaotong University (交通大?) in Shanghai, a prestigious university in China, sparking controversy.

As the incident became controversial, the school stated that it had consulted experts regarding the matter and explained that "the needle is not for humans or experiments but is a pig vaccine needle." They emphasized again that it appears the needle broke inside the body when a newborn piglet struggled while receiving an injection.

On the 25th, the market supervision and management committee under the school's jurisdiction had already begun investigating the circumstances of the incident.

The school, which had been hasty to clarify the 'identity' of the needle without a proper apology, posted an apology statement belatedly on the 25th and deleted the previous explanation. They promised to strengthen food raw material traceability management and quality control to prevent such problems from happening again. Although the catering company involved was shut down, anxiety among students and parents had already grown.

An expert engaged in the pork distribution business summarized three main possibilities for the discovery of a needle in pork: it broke during the administration of antibiotics or vaccines at pig farms, water was injected into the pork to increase volume, or it was maliciously inserted by a person.

Some experts have called for the installation of metal detectors at slaughterhouses, but the reality is that the inspection area is so vast and the needles so small that even detectors cannot be 100% trusted.

In response, Chinese netizens expressed negative reactions such as "What if that needle had entered the body?", "There is nothing trustworthy to eat," and "Is food that produces needles normal?"

A staff member at a butcher shop in China is trimming lamb ribs with their mouth.
[Photo by Weibo]

Earlier, the Chinese food industry has been suffering from consecutive hygiene controversies. In September, a worker at the third Qingdao Brewery plant in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, was filmed urinating in the malt storage area, causing controversy. This incident caused the company's market capitalization to evaporate by 6.7 billion yuan (about 1.2 trillion won).

Also, on the 26th, a video showing a man in a butcher shop in Anhui Province, eastern China, cleaning lamb meat with his mouth spread on social media. In the video, the man used his mouth instead of tools to bite and remove meat from the lamb ribs.

The man claimed it was a "decades-old traditional technique that removes bones faster than tools" and added that "experts do not leave traces of saliva."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.