This is the bizarre case of a restaurant in eastern China offering a pregnant woman money for abortion after she fished a dead rat out of a hot pot.
The unexpected ingredient showed up while the woman’s group dined at a Xiabu Xiabu outlet, a Beijing-based fast food chain, in Weifang, Shandong province on Sept. 6.
After the astonishing discovery, the restaurant’s owner offered the group a one-time compensation of 5,000 yuan ($728), according to NetEase.
However, they refused to accept the amount as one of them, a woman surnamed Gao, is pregnant and thought that she needed to undergo a medical check-up before agreeing to terms.
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Upon learning Gao’s concerns, the owner raised an alternative offer that shocked the group further: 20,000 yuan ($2,900) for her abortion.
Understandably, no agreement was made.
The issue was brought to the Kuiwen District Market Supervision Bureau, which immediately sent officers to an onsite inspection, The Paper reported.
They found that the Xiabu Xiabu branch’s business license, catering service permit and health safety certificate are all legal and publicized according to regulations.
The restaurant also passed sanitary standards, though water reportedly accumulated on the ground in the processing area at certain times.
It remains unclear how the dead rat ended up in the group’s hot pot, but the bureau temporarily suspended the outlet’s operations for further investigation.
The owner did not comment about the abortion money further, claiming that the matter is being handled in Xiabu Xiabu’s headquarters.
