Half a minute later, Ji Feng looked up and said, "It's indeed poisoning, specifically food poisoning, caused by the use of germinated potatoes in the dish. Germinated potatoes contain solanine, which is an alkaloid found in the green parts of sprouted potatoes. Solanine is a toxic substance, with the highest concentration in potato flowers, followed by stems and leaves, and a lower concentration in the tubers."
"When the solanine content exceeds 20mg/100g, it can be poisonous to humans and animals. Germinated potatoes, because they produce flowers, stems, and leaves, have a dramatically increased solanine content, exceeding the safety index by more than a hundred times. Consequently, consuming them leads to food poisoning, as is the case with them now."
Everyone came to a sudden realization. Although some people knew not to eat sprouted potatoes, they didn't know the specifics.
They couldn't help but admire Ji Feng. As the head of the Medical School at Huadu University, his medical expertise was indeed strong. Without any medical equipment, he could diagnose the cause just by looking.
The middle-aged woman immediately looked at Manager Wang and angrily said, "Manager Wang, do you see? Even Director Ji has said it, my son and the others have food poisoning! If you can't provide a satisfactory answer, then get ready to face a lawsuit!"
Manager Wang started to look a bit panicked. With Ji Feng's statement, it was almost like the final nail in the coffin. Even if hospital personnel came to check, the results would probably align with Ji Feng's diagnosis. Didn't Guan Wenzhi next to him have no objections?
Perhaps Ji Feng could make a mistake, but both of them together, it was unlikely they would be wrong!
However, this matter concerned the reputation of Wei Family Restaurant, and even the entire Wei family's food industry chain, so Manager Wang couldn't be careless!
The incident happened so suddenly, although he had informed Wei Laosan who was nearby, it would still take some time for him to arrive.
Manager Wang hurriedly said, "Madam Huang, please trust me, all our raw materials are carefully selected and are absolutely without any problems!"
"Hmph! You're still making excuses! Do you think Director Ji's judgment is wrong?" the middle-aged woman asked coldly.
"This… that's certainly not the case, but really, the ingredients we purchased truly don't have any issues!" Manager Wang wouldn't compromise when it came to the restaurant's reputation. If people felt it was unsafe to eat at their restaurant, it would be a deadly blow to his job and to the business of Wei Family Restaurant!
You must understand, people talk!
Whether a restaurant can sustain its business over time depends on its reputation among the general public. Once the reputation collapses, it's destroyed completely. Trying to restore a ruined reputation is extremely difficult.
Even if you later improve, there's always a knot in people's hearts, leading to an aversion that's hard to eliminate.
"But clearly after eating at your restaurant, they suffered food poisoning!" a member of the crowd spoke up.
"Yeah, that's something you can't deny. Are you going to deny that too?"
"Hmph! He must be thinking that because the Wei family is so powerful, we wouldn't dare to argue with them."
"Sister, don't panic. Just file a complaint, and we'll support you. No matter how big and influential they are, they wouldn't dare to confront all of us!"
The crowd started speaking all at once, accusing the Wei Family Restaurant of wrongdoing.
Manager Wang had to shout loudly to interrupt the commotion, and he snorted, "I suspect that they are deliberately framing us. Everyone knows that our Wei family would not ruin our own reputation. Therefore, it's very likely that a rival family is behind this sabotage."
When the crowd heard this, they seemed to find some sense in his words. The competition among big restaurants was fierce, and it wasn't unusual for competitors to try to sabotage them.
However, without sufficient evidence to prove that these individuals were purposefully causing trouble, the crowd wouldn't believe Manager Wang.
The middle-aged woman said sharply, "Are you trying to bully us with the size of your business? Do you think we'll just believe your lies because you say so? Let me tell you, I'm not done with you over this! If anything happens to my three family members, even the old master Wei showing up won't help!"
Manager Wang snorted and said, "I suspect that you added something to the food while you were in the private room."
"Then search!" the middle-aged woman was not afraid at all, which made Manager Wang's heart skip. Could it be that she was innocent? Help us out by reading on *.
Indeed, after searching the private room, they found no useful information.
At this point, Xu Hao suddenly said, "Let's inspect the kitchen."
"But Young Master Xu…" Manager Wang appeared troubled. If they inspected the kitchen, even if there was no fault found, they might still be blamed.
Xu Hao said, "If we want to get to the bottom of this and find out how they were poisoned, we need to check it out."