A Fredericton restaurant has re-opened after it was shut down by health officials who discovered rotting bear meat in one of the eatery's refrigerators during a routine inspection Tuesday.
The discovery prompted two government investigations and the Department of Health shut the Mandarin Palace down Wednesday.
Officials say the decomposing meat was a major concern because it could have contaminated other food in the cooler, but the main reason for shutting the Mandarin Palace down was due to the fact that restaurants are not licenced to offer wild game.
"Our concern is not just game, but in total their food is coming from appropriately inspected and safe places," says Dr. Cristin Muecke, regional medical officer of health.
CTV News attempted to contact the Mandarin Palace, but neither phone calls nor knocks on the door were answered.
Outside of the restaurant, at least one former customer told CTV News he won't be eating there anymore.
"There's a certain gross factor that comes up," says former patron Dathan McLean. "And bear meat in a Chinese restaurant? I know I'm not an authority on Chinese cuisine, but I don't think…bear pops up much."
This is not the first health code violation the restaurant has been slapped with. Officials say the discovery of the rotting meat came as a result of an increase in the frequency of inspections at the Mandarin Palace.
"If a restaurant is…considered to have had violations in the past and is kind of on our radar, they be inspected more often than a restaurant that's had stellar reports," says Muecke.
The Department of Natural Resources has launched its own investigation to determine where the bear meat came from, and whether it was harvested legally.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
