Dubai: This week, a family in Wuhan, the source of the coronavirus pandemic in China, rushed to get tested for the novel coronavirus, after they spotted a dead baby bat in the soup that they ordered from a Chinese restaurant.
A sickening image that went viral showed the a whole bat, wings and all, floating in the half-eaten soup. Reportedly, the shocked customers immediately went to a hospital over fears of contracting COViD-19. To their relief, their result was negative, according to local media.
The coronavirus pandemic, has been suggested to have come from wild animals, including bats and pangolins.
Reportedly, the Chinese Chen family, bought the soup from a restaurant near their home in Wuhan of Hubei province on July 10, reported local media. The father had eaten some of the broth but did not spot anything unusual. On the third day after the purchase, they took out the leftover soup for the family to eat together. As the family was going to reheat the soup, Chen’s mother scooped up something black. A small baby bat.
Reportedly, she 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.
The disgusted diners went to the restaurant where they ordered the soup. The eatery offered to refund the cost of the soup but said that they had purchased the frozen product used in the broth, from a local soup manufacturer.
According to news reports, 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 claimed that the black mammal had flown into the soup when the family took the food out of the fridge.
The local authorities launched an investigation into the matter, but, were unable to conclude when the baby bat got into the soup as it was found three days after the purchase, said reports.
