Needle-like Foreign Object Suspected in X-ray Image
Company Offers Refund and Medical Expense Solutions Without Apology
A story has been shared about a couple who discovered a syringe needle while eating domestic Korean beef of the Two-Plus grade, and even swallowed some parts of it.
A story has been shared about a couple who found a needle while eating domestic Korean beef of the Two Plus grade. [Image source=Online community capture]
On the 14th, a post titled "Found a syringe needle while eating beef. I swallowed a piece of the needle" was uploaded on an online community. The author, Mr. A, opened by saying, "This is the first time something like this has happened, so I don’t know how to handle it and would like to get advice from people in related professions or industries."
Mr. A explained that on the 9th, he purchased a 658g assorted pack of affordable Two-Plus grade Korean beef for about 32,000 won after seeing an online advertisement. He said, "While grilling meat with my husband over the weekend, I bit into something hard and spat it out. At first, I thought it was a small metal wire, so I spat it out beside me and continued eating," adding, "Then I bit into something again and spat it out, and it turned out to be a syringe needle, with a sharp tip."
He continued, "It ruined the mood, so we immediately stopped eating. I cut up the remaining meat with scissors to check, but didn’t find any other pieces," and added, "Since I had eaten about 400g out of 600g, I was worried I might have swallowed other pieces, so I went to the emergency room for an X-ray." Fortunately, there were no abnormalities found in Mr. A, but a foreign object suspected to be a needle fragment was found in his husband’s stomach. He shared photos of the needle and his husband’s X-ray, explaining, "The bent needle is the piece I spat out first while eating, and my husband chewed it. The second piece I spat out is the needle tip. The size is about two finger joints."
A foreign object presumed to be a needle was found in the X-ray image of the husband of author Mr. A. [Image source=Online community capture]
Mr. A added, "Since it was the weekend, I couldn’t reach the seller by phone, so I left a message. On Monday morning, my husband received a call from them, but they said, ‘There’s no way something like that could come out,’ without even apologizing," and lamented, "Only by evening did the seller respond, offering a refund and saying they would handle it if we submitted hospital treatment receipts."
He continued, "I’m not trying to make a profit from this. What should we do in cases like this? The seller seems to be handling it lightly, as if it’s like finding a piece of plastic in bread," and appealed, "I’m worried that the swallowed needle might pierce or get stuck in the internal organs and not come out, so I can’t even sleep properly. My husband can’t go to work and is using his paid leave while being monitored daily at the hospital."
A couple, Mr. and Mrs. A, found a needle foreign object while eating beef. [Image source=Captured from online community]
One netizen who read the story commented, "There are quite a few cases where needles break and get stuck while administering antibiotics to livestock. Usually, after slaughtering and trimming, the meat passes through food-grade metal detectors or X-ray machines to find such things, but if that step is skipped, this happens," and added, "I hope it passes through safely without any problems." Other netizens left comments such as, "This is not something that can be resolved with just a refund and hospital fees," "I hope they receive proper compensation until the end as there could be aftereffects," "The company should be publicly disclosed," and "You should report this to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS)."
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