Food Safety Scare In China After Human Teeth Allegedly Found In Sausages And Dim Sum

A series of deeply concerning food safety incidents in China has ignited alarm across social media and regulatory circles. On October 13, a customer in Jilin province discovered a row of three artificial teeth embedded in a sausage bought from an outdoor stall. On the same day in Dongguan, two more teeth were reportedly found in dim sum from a major local chain, South China Morning Post reported. 

The restaurant claimed that all its dumplings are sourced directly from the company's central facility and said it could not explain how the teeth ended up in the food. Authorities are currently investigating the matter.

Just a day later, on October 14, another similar case emerged. A customer in Shanghai reportedly found an artificial human tooth, with a visible metal screw, embedded in a jujube and walnut cake purchased from a Sam's Club outlet. 

Sam's Club, known for its premium food offerings and strict quality standards, operates over 50 stores across 20 cities in China. The cake in question was priced at 27.8 yuan (approximately US$4) for a 520-gram box. A staff member at the store expressed surprise over the incident, maintaining that factory-produced food items are not expected to have such issues.  

The customer returned the following day to raise her complaint formally. She said the store offered her 1,000 yuan as compensation for the contaminated cake. However, when she asked to take a photo of the receipt for the compensation, the request was denied, although she was asked to sign it.

China's Food Safety Law requires companies to compensate 10 times the food price or three times the consumer's losses, with a minimum of 1,000 yuan. Following the incident, the Shanghai Pudong New District market supervision department has launched an investigation. 

This isn't the first time an artificial tooth has been found in a Sam's Club product. In 2022, a woman claimed that her uncle discovered three teeth inside a Sam's Club signature Swiss roll purchased from the chain's Xiamen store in Fujian province.

Similar incidents in the past have usually ended with private settlements between customers and sellers, without any official investigation findings being made public.

Such cases often fuel widespread speculation online, with some users expressing fears that human remains may have somehow been mixed into the food. Others speculated that the artificial teeth might have accidentally fallen in during food production, possibly lost by factory workers handling the items.