A dozen dinners to a luxury restaurant in Fuzhou of Fujian Province got a shock recently when they found a worm in a dish costing more than 3,000 yuan, (US$370). But what got them even more was how a woman worker swallowed the worm to escape responsibility.

The group of friends were gathered round the table when one of them found a worm in a dish. When they asked for explanations from the woman in charge of the dining hall, she suddenly made a grab for the worm, popped it into her mouth and claimed there was no worm in the dish.