Eight freezers with meat and fish without labels were found (Photo: Madrid Police)
Restaurant in Madrid hid plucked pigeons and tons of food with no provenance
A Chinese restaurant located in the Usera neighborhood of Madrid was shut down by the Municipal Police on March 25 after investigations revealed that the place was serving urban pigeons instead of roasted duck.
During the operation, the officers found a series of serious violations of health regulations. Among the issues were meats and fish without any labeling or provenance identification, cockroaches moving around the kitchen, and rat traps scattered on the floor. Additionally, pigeons with their feathers removed were found among the food items.
One of the most alarming discoveries was a secret passage hidden behind a shelf in a bathroom adapted for people with disabilities. The passage led to an unauthorized storage area that was not approved in the restaurant’s license.
The location also housed eight freezers with products that had no proper shelf life or origin records and lacked the appropriate tools to measure the temperature of the cold storage units — a required item for food establishments.
Clausurado un restaurante chino en Usera con comida podrida, cucarachas y carne colgada en un tendedero pic.twitter.com/xowLWLe0FO
— El Aguijón 🐝 (@ElAguijon_) April 7, 2025
Given the irregularities, the restaurant was immediately closed. The owner is under investigation for possible crimes related to public health and animal cruelty. Local sources also reported the presence of approximately 300 kilograms of spoiled food and meats being dried on improvised clotheslines.
According to El Mundo newspaper, employees allegedly captured the pigeons on the streets and killed them brutally before serving them to customers. “The smell was unbearable, it smelled like decaying seafood,” reported one of the police officers involved in the operation.
A resident of the building where the restaurant operated stated that no one in the neighborhood ever ate at the establishment. “The smell was awful. The food was delivered in carts and left at the door in broad daylight,” they said.
Authorities are now seeking to charge the responsible party for animal cruelty, public health risks, and consumer rights violations.
In another similar case, this time in Vietnam, a restaurant was permanently shut down after reports that cats were being drowned to supply the cat meat trade.
Pham Quoc Doanh, 37, operated the Gia Bảo restaurant in the city of Thái Nguyên, where investigations revealed that around 300 cats were killed every month.
With a sign reading “special meat for cats,” the establishment had been operating for five years and capitalized on a local tradition that associates eating cat meat with benefits such as good luck, sexual vigor, and even cures for diseases like COVID-19.
Although the practice is common in some regions of the country, Doanh stated that he entered this business out of financial necessity. “Before, I sold regular food and drinks, but I couldn’t support my family. I only started selling cat meat because there was no other restaurant offering it around here,” he said in an interview with Metro.
It is estimated that annually, around one million cats — including stolen pets — are slaughtered for consumption in Vietnam.
Source and images: Metro.co.uk / X @ElAguijon_. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
