Fully eight people have been determined to have made use of a condiment jar containing a small rat in a Yangzhou vocational college. In a commendable commitment to transparency, the college in question has admitted the incident took place. An investigation is ongoing.
It was midday on 1 December when a student enrolled in Jianghai Vocational & Technical College in Yangzhou of our very own Jiangsu Province reported to that institution’s cafeteria that a mouse had been found in one of the buffet’s spice jars.
A jar containing sesame sauce to be precise. This led to the College releasing a report as to public health incidents in its canteen on 4 December, specifically with regard to the “rat in the kitchen” incident and the measures it was implementing as a result.
As The Paper reports, first was to assign a dedicated team to immediately start an investigation and to handle subsequent matters relating to the incident.
Second was suspend operations at the cafeteria serving window where the incident took place, and seal all its raw materials plus associated tableware, to then accept inspection by professional outside agencies.
Third was to comprehensively check all the cafeteria serving windows for problems and to make immediate corrections as necessary. Professionals were also to be called in to eliminate any pests in all the College’s dining outlets, while also strengthening anti-rodent measures
Fourth was to locate the eight teachers and students who used the condiment jar that day to understand their health conditions.
Fifth was to review the cafeteria’s measures as to food-hygiene management and formulate a comprehensive rectification plan. That work is still in progress.
The College’s report also acknowledges the failings of that institution, and that the incident was the result of their not having in place measures both appropriate and rigorous. Jianghai Vocational and Technical College further expressed its deep apology to all teachers, students and employees thereof, vowing to conscientiously cooperate with the investigations and to actively carry out all necessary rectifications.
While their actions are to be commended and there can be no mistaking that such an incident will almost certainly never be repeated, so too it is also certain that Jianghai Vocational and Technical College acquired, in a matter of minutes, a notoriety nationwide that shall not soon be forgotten.
