A canteen in the dormitory of the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City was shut down on Tuesday after inspections following student complaints found that the food sold there was infected with maggots.

News of unhygienic food in Dormitory B of the university in Thu Duc District emerged online on Tuesday after a Facebook user named T. uploaded photos of a maggot-filled meal bought from one of its canteens to a group whose members include students staying at the dorm.

The photos were quickly shared and commented on by thousands of users, with most voicing concerns about hygiene standards at the canteen as well as health risks for regular customers.

Not long after that, another student uploaded photos of his own meal bought from the same canteen also containing maggots.

“That’s disgusting,” Facebook user Trang Minh commented. “How can we focus on studying when we can’t even feel safe about the food we eat? I hope the dorm managers will handle this properly.”

“I have passed by their kitchen a few times, and I can never touch their food again,” user Thu Than Thien said. “I don’t think anybody would dare to eat at the canteen after seeing their kitchen.”

Around 15 minutes after the photos were uploaded, Director Tran Thanh An and the food safety department of the dormitory arrived at the canteen for inspections.

A ten-minute-long clip recording the inspection process was later uploaded to Facebook, in which the inspectors could be seen breaking apart some fried fish at the canteen, with maggots crawling out of the fish heads.

“The students would not say anything without evidence,” Director An could be heard saying firmly in the clip in response to rumors saying the photos were a set-up to frame the canteen. “Violations must be handled.”

“We arrived at the canteen for immediate inspection 15 minutes after receiving the complaints from students, and we have collected food samples, made a record of our findings, and shut down the canteen,” An said.

The inspection was witnessed by many students in the dormitory, and the canteen owner has apologized for the incident.

“The dormitory currently houses around 21,000 students, with 10 canteens,” An said. “We will strictly handle this matter, without covering up any violation.”

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