ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Restaurant staff in China offered to pay for a pregnant woman who found a dead rat in her food to have an abortion, her husband has claimed.

The man said he and his family were eating at a branch of Xiabu Xiabu in Weifang when his wife found the rodent in a bowl of hotpot.

Ma has alleged that one of the staff suggested his wife get an abortion if she was concerned for her unborn child’s health, according to local news outlet Kankan News.

He said he was told by a member of staff: “If you are worried about the baby, then we’ll give you 20,000 yuan (£2,238) to abort it."

The restaurant offered Ms Ma compensation of 5,000 yuan (£559) after the wife had been checked in hospital and the baby was confirmed healthy.

Hotpot is a popular dish in China and seen as a social occasion where ingredients are cooked at the table by diners in a boiling broth.

The incident went viral on Chinese social media causing the company’s stock value to plummet by around £145 million.

Local authorities closed down the restaurant while an investigation was launched.

In a statement the company’s representative Catherine Gao, the chain is helping authorities with their investigation.

She said: “We have set up a special investigation team to gain an in-depth understanding of the incident and assist us in clarifying the truth through third-party authorities.”