Our newspaper report (by reporter Hou Xi): Xiao Zhang came to the supermarket's cooked food section wanting to buy a chicken leg. When he approached the counter, he was shocked by what he saw: A gray rat covered in grease had its head buried in the pile of meat inside the counter, enjoying a delicious feast.
Xiao Zhang noticed the rat while buying a chicken leg
At around 6 p.m. last night, Xiao Zhang came to the Wenyi Road branch of RT-Mart to prepare some food for his business trip the next day. When he reached the second floor of the supermarket’s cooked food section intending to buy two chicken legs, he was stunned by what he saw.
"In the glass cabinet where various meat products were displayed in the cooked food section, there was actually a rat," said Xiao Zhang at around 7 p.m. last night at the Wenyi Road branch of RT-Mart. Xiao Zhang mentioned that four or five customers, including himself, noticed the rat, and one elderly grandmother even shouted loudly, "There's a rat in the meat." "The rat was about 10 centimeters long and gray," Xiao Zhang described. He said the rat was on the outermost side of the glass counter displaying the meat products, with its head buried in the pile of food, gnawing continuously, and its rear end raised high. The fur was covered with grease.
Taking photos of the rat led to being taken away by security
Upon seeing this scene, Xiao Zhang quickly took out his mobile phone and snapped a photo of the rat feasting. Xiao Zhang said that at the time, there were also two other customers who were "shocked" by the sight, and they took out their phones to take pictures together with him.
After taking the photos, Xiao Zhang no longer wanted to make any purchases. Just as he was about to leave, he was stopped by two security guards from the supermarket.
"The security guards used the reason that photography is not allowed in the supermarket to forcibly take me into the supermarket's public security office," Xiao Zhang said. At the time, the attitude of the supermarket security guards was rude, and after bringing him into the public security office, they wouldn't let him leave.
Worried about his personal safety being endangered, Xiao Zhang hurriedly called 110 to report the incident, and then the police arrived, allowing Xiao Zhang to leave the supermarket.
All food from the rat-infested counter has been destroyed
From Xiao Zhang's mobile phone photo album, you can see a gray rat with its head buried in the pile of cooked food inside the glass cabinet. At around 7:30 p.m. last night, following Xiao Zhang's guidance, I arrived at the counter in the cooked food section on the second floor of the Wenyi Road branch of RT-Mart where the rat was found. I discovered that all the originally placed chicken legs, pig trotters, and other meat products had disappeared, replaced by other pre-packaged foods with plastic shells.
Ms. Wang, the person in charge of the counter, said that she started work at 4 p.m., and she was unaware of the matter regarding the rat in the counter, nor had she changed the items stored inside.
Subsequently, the reporter showed Xiao Zhang's photos to Duan Changlin, the general manager of the Wenyi Road branch of RT-Mart. Duan Changlin said that upon learning of the matter, he immediately rushed to the store and apologized to Xiao Zhang. "This is indeed our mistake in our work," said Duan Changlin. The supermarket will immediately destroy all the food items that were in the counter when the rat appeared, and conduct health disinfection and inspections throughout the entire supermarket overnight. Regarding Xiao Zhang's feedback about being "roughly treated" by the security guards, Duan Changlin said that the supermarket has a rule prohibiting photography, which might have caused misunderstanding between both parties. However, the supermarket security definitely would not restrict the personal freedom of customers.