A pregnant woman found a dead rat in the soup while having a hotpot meal in eastern China’s Shandong province. A local newspaper reported the incident on Friday and video footage of the customer picking the rat out with chopsticks circulated on Chinese social media all weekend.
Authorities in Weifang have suspended the branch of the popular hotpot restaurant chain Xiabu Xiabu.
By the close of trading on Tuesday, shares in the chain’s parent company, Xiabuxiabu Catering Management, had fallen almost 12.5 percent, at one point dropping to their lowest in nearly a year. In all, the discovery of the rat had knocked about $190 million off the market value of the business, which is publicly traded in Hong Kong. Read more of the story here.