Updated: Mon May. 11 2009 17:46:08

ctvwinnipeg.ca

This is not what you would expect to find in your chicken mushroom stir-fry.

But what one couple says they found after ordering lunch in a fast food court on Saturday is making even health inspectors queasy.

They found a baby rodent.

"I'm shocked and dismayed. This obviously is a very disturbing finding. It does not at all meet the threshold of what we even consider acceptable food practices," says Manager of Public Health Inspection Programs Mike LeBlanc.

The couple bought their meal from the Sizzling Wok location at St. Vital Centre.

The company has voluntarily closed the location for now.

The mall says it contacted the Health Department, and adds the restaurant will not re-open until it is cleared by health inspectors.

"We are looking into the matter as you can understand. As soon as we were aware of the situation we had a huge concern," says Cheryl Mazur from St. Vital.

The couple, who will not decide whether or not to do an interview until they speak with their lawyer, says they bought the stir fry and began eating before making the shocking discovery.

A witness who also declined an on camera interview confirmed to CTV News that this is what the couple found in its meal.

Officials from the Health Department say they still have to figure out what it actually is.

"Just by looking at this I can't determine whether or not it's a mouse, a baby mouse or a baby rat but it is obviously a baby rodent of some sort," says LeBlanc.

Health investigators hope to determine where the rodent actually came from.

It may have come from the restaurant itself, or from a food supplier.

They will also examine the restaurant's food handling practices and its pest control procedures.

LeBlanc says this sort of thing does not happen very often.

With a report from CTV's Shaneen Robinson

Please Add Comments

Mrs.Bee
After all these years of being warned then it actually happens to someone... I imagine that it has happened before but it wasn't noticed...

Michelle in Steinbach
Oh my God....that's beyond terrible. I would have puked.

johnny
I can't believe I've eaten there.
There is no chance anybody will eat there ever again!

Vincent
I wrote the health dept last June about a mouse I witnessed at a nearby food counter at the St Vital mall. Clearly, this latest incident is not isolated.

Lovie Daily
Now a days the Health Department are not doing a very good job by not checking all these places more often. People will be unsure now going out to eat. It is not safe, and you wonder which place is clean or now. Now a days the Health Department are finding many places are not obeying the Health & Safey Regulations.

kelly
I ate there once ordering somthing that had mushrooms in it. Not liking mushrooms, I asked for no mushrooms. When I sat down and looked at my food what was in it, mushrooms. So my boyfriend took it back for me. I was waiting for a while. When he came back he said that someone (who looked like the owner) just picked out the mushrooms, while the cooks stood staring at her saying they would just make another. She disargeed and said that this was fine. We didnt eat anything and just left I was so appalled I couldnt even get myself to go talk to them. So I have not eat there since and Im not going to lie, I don't expect too much less than baby rodents in their food when they don't even take the time to make what someone orders.

Mark form Winnipeg
It's very shocking to see this in your everyday food order. How Sizzling Wok could have not noticed this right away? Their food handling practices have poorly been done.

B.Friesen
How gross! This is why I rarely eat at restaurants. In my home, I know exactly what and how my food is prepared, and I can be rest-assured my kitchen & dining area is clean & sanitary!

Would You Like Fries With That?
As long as it was cooked thoroughly, it should not have harmed them.
Just kidding, I hope the Health Dept. checks Food Establishments on a much more regular basis, I find the number of Inspectors is not adequate, and hope that it does not cost someone their life someday.
Get with it Doer, hire some people!

Not Surprised
I have worked in the food courts of various malls in Winnipeg, and a good rule of thumb is don't eat at a chinese buffet. If the restaurant name has the word wok in it, it means to walk away and most people working in the food courts will tell you the same. I saw many health violations while at St. Vital and Polo Park, but unless the health inspector catches them in the act there is nothing they can do.

Leanne
I don't think that this restaurant should reopen at all. When it boils down to it there was a rodent found in the food and we won't ever know whether it was from the supplier or was put there in there from the cooks or what not. Either way how can anyone ever go back to eating there after that.

Mark from Winnipeg (2)
To go what I first said, we should be vigilante on waht we order at restaurants especially Chinese Restaruants. My perspective a quarter put too much grease on their menus and now this, a baby rodent found on a stir-fry. It's probably a good time for the WHO to look into this.

Bishop
To add insult to injury, their fortune cookie read "That wasn't chicken".

v
I've eaten there lots of times, and the food was okay, but a baby rat in the food... I'll never be able to eat there again. It makes me want to vomit over and over. That unfortunate couple.

Trish
My husband and I ate there on Saturday May 9th! That is just disgusting and we now will never eat there again.

AG
I think there should be more health inspectors, it's not that surprising. I'm glad these people contacted the media - I've been at Subway before and theyve coughed on their gloves and touched my sandwich. Things like that should NEVER happen - there should be some way to report even minor incidents. This could have been a lot worse if this person ate that - they had the potential to get very sick.