China is facing a food safety scare following multiple reports of human teeth allegedly discovered in food across the country.
On October 13, a customer in Jilin province reportedly found three artificial teeth inside a sausage purchased from an outdoor food stall. On the same day in Dongguan, two more teeth were allegedly discovered in dim sum from a well-known local chain, according to the South China Morning Post.
The restaurant said all its dumplings are sourced from a central facility and could not explain how the teeth ended up in the food. Authorities are investigating.
The situation escalated the following day, October 14, when a customer in Shanghai reportedly found an artificial human tooth with a visible metal screw inside a jujube and walnut cake bought from Sam’s Club.
Sam’s Club, known for its premium food offerings and quality standards, operates over 50 stores in 20 cities across China. The contaminated cake, priced at 27.8 yuan (around US$4) for 520 grams, raised serious safety concerns. A staff member expressed surprise over the incident, emphasizing that factory-produced items are not expected to have such issues.
The customer returned the next day to lodge a formal complaint. She stated that the store offered 1,000 yuan as compensation for the contaminated product. However, when she requested to photograph the receipt, the request was denied, although she was asked to sign it.
Under China’s Food Safety Law, companies are required to compensate either ten times the food price or three times the consumer’s losses, with a minimum of 1,000 yuan.
This is not the first such incident involving Sam’s Club. In 2022, a customer in Xiamen, Fujian province claimed that her uncle found three teeth inside a Sam’s Club Swiss roll from the chain’s store.
