A horrified diner claims she found a pink baby rat wriggling around in her takeaway noodles.
The hairless newborn was filmed kicking its tiny feet in the satay sauce – with its eyes barely open.
The woman, named Ms Shum, made the stomach-churning discovery after taking the £4.20 lunch back to her desk.
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She immediately slammed the lid shut and contacted food hygiene officials.
A short video of the bizarre find has since gone viral online, as reported by Need To Know.
Ms Shum bought the HKD 44 set meal from a restaurant in Hong Kong, China, on Monday (7 September).
It consisted of satay beef rice noodles, a ham omelette and a drink.
But when she opened the noodles at her desk in a local property firm, she was stunned to apparently find the tiny rodent moving around in the sauce.
Ms Shum kept the container sealed and filed a complaint with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
Inspectors seized the food for testing and launched an investigation.
A department spokesman said hygiene in parts of the restaurant’s kitchen was “unsatisfactory”.
Officials have started action under restaurant regulations and are tracing the meal through every stage from cooking and packing to storage and collection.
However, authorities have warned against jumping to conclusions based on the viral footage alone.
It remains unclear when or how the animal ended up in the container.
The restaurant’s owner, named locally as Mike, said he was “shocked” by the discovery and found it “hard to believe”.
He said the business had been open for just over a year without any similar complaints.
The beef is cooked at a high temperature, which he said made it difficult to understand how such a tiny animal could apparently still be alive in the dish.
Mike said the restaurant undergoes a deep clean every month and pest control treatments twice a month.
The premises have since been cleaned and disinfected again.
Staff member Ms Ng said several workers were responsible for packing takeaway orders, making it difficult to establish who sealed the container.
The investigation continues.
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