Warning: This article contains content that some readers may find distressing.
A shocking discovery was made during a raid on a Chinese restaurant, revealing an unusual substitute being used for ‘roast duck’ and authorities have disclosed additional findings.
Many of us enjoy dining at Chinese restaurants worldwide, expecting the items on the menu to match the description provided.
However, in March, authorities conducted a raid at Jin Gu, located in the Usera district of Madrid, Spain, due to a series of complaints.
Following the raid, the restaurant was closed down for violating multiple health regulations.
Authorities reported finding a kitchen infested with cockroaches, and the products, including meat and fish, lacked proper labeling.
They informed El Mundo that the place ‘smelled of rotten seafood; it was almost unbearable’.
Additionally, officers discovered rat traps on the floor and, alarmingly, street pigeons that had been plucked and were being used in place of duck for one of their dishes.
According to El Mundo, the restaurant staff allegedly caught pigeons from the street and killed them by ‘kicking them to death’.
The raid unveiled a hidden storage area behind a shelf in the disabled toilet, a feature not included in the business license.
Inside, eight freezers were found containing unlabeled meat and fish, the origins of which could not be traced.
Furthermore, the establishment lacked thermometers necessary for monitoring storage temperatures, a legal requirement in Spain.
Consequently, the restaurant was ordered to shut down, and the owner now faces investigations into alleged animal cruelty, violations of public health standards, and consumer rights infringements.
Local reports indicated the presence of 300 kilos of ‘rotten food’, with meat seen hanging to dry on a clothesline.
The inspection also uncovered a fan coated in grease, improperly stored fire extinguishers that did not meet the required height, and emergency exits blocked by trash bins.
Disturbingly, this is not the first complaint against the restaurant regarding its food and practices, with locals claiming to have alerted authorities multiple times.
“None of us ate there,” a local told the Spanish outlet. “It smelled bad, and we saw food brought in on a cart and left at the door in broad daylight.”
While the restaurant maintains a 4.2-star rating on Google, the ‘roast duck’ has been described as bony…
“The duck I think is a little dry and lots of bones, not that tasty,” a review from five years ago stated.
Given the recent findings of plucked pigeons, such comments now appear quite unsettling.