On Thursday evening, news broke on a Wuhan family having rushed to get tested for coronavirus after finding a whole dead bat in a pot of pork soup they ordered from a Chinese restaurant. A revolting image shows the small black mammal with its wings and body curled up together as it was floating on the surface of the half-eaten broth, according to Daily Mail. Caution: Image may be unsettling to some to viewers.
The Chinese patrons immediately went to the hospital after the shocking discovery over fears of catching the Chinese virus. Their results came back negative, according to local media. The incident comes as the source of the coronavirus pandemic, which first emerged in the central Chinese city late last year, has been suggested to have come from wild animals, including bats and pangolins.
The Chinese family, known by their surname Chen, bought a pot of frozen pork soup from a restaurant near his home in Wuhan of Hubei province, reported local media.
The father had eaten some of the broth by himself but did not spot anything unusual, his son, Mr Chen, told Hubei Television. They were shocked to find the whole dead bat in the leftover food as they were planning to eat it together on the third day after the purchase.
Mr. Chen said: ‘I was going to reheat the soup and I scooped up something black. It was a small baby bat.”
Mr. Chen’s mother said that she initially thought the foreign object was a type of spice used for cooking the soup. “I checked it with chopsticks and I saw its wings and ears. It even had fur,” the woman told reporters.
Footage released by the TV station shows the diner inspecting the dead animal with a pair of chopsticks after it was scooped out of the food. The disgusted guests went to the restaurant where they ordered the soup after their shocking discovery. The eatery offered to refund the family but pawned the error on a local soup manufacturer.
When interviewed by the local press, the owner of the food company denied that the bat got into the broth while they were making it. He said, “Bats are normally active during the night, but we make our soup during the day. We seal the pot immediately when we finish and put it in the fridge. We never leave it outside.” The business owner claims that the animal must have flown into the soup when the family took the food out of the fridge.
The local authorities launched an investigation into the matter after receiving a complaint from the Chen family. But they were unable to identify when and how the baby bat got into the soup, an official told the local station.
The family also received nucleic acid tests after they found the bat. All of them tested negative for the Wuhan-originated China virus. Although no one appeared to be responsible for the incident, the soup manufacturer said that they were willing to pay the family 2,000 yuan as compensation.
