Bugs in stew peas stir controversy

A Corporate Area man is steaming after he allegedly experienced an unexpected and unpleasant addition to his meal. Last week, he purchased stew peas and plain rice from a restaurant for his business partner, only to discover that the dish came with an unwelcome surprise -- stink bugs.

According to the man, his partner had started eating the meal when she realised she was chewing on something that wasn't pig's tail. Horrified, she allegedly spat out part of a bug, while the body of another bug was found in the dish. He immediately returned the food to the restaurant, hoping for some form of compensation.

"I've been a loyal customer for years," he explained. "I thought they would offer me something -- maybe a refund or at least something to cover the $1,400 I spent. But instead, the owner accused me of trying to extort them, claiming I put the bugs in the food myself!"

Outraged by the accusation, he said, "Where would I even find stink bugs? She chewed up one and spat it out! They're just trying to dodge responsibility and act like nothing happened."

The man said his business partner has been struggling to eat since the incident, with her stomach unsettled by the experience.

"She's been sick to her stomach and hasn't eaten a proper meal since then," he shared. "It's hard to put a price on something like that, but in Jamaica, a million dollars doesn't go far. If they offered me $500,000, I wouldn't turn it down."

He added, "She didn't go to the doctor, so it's tough to quantify the damage. It's her appetite that's been affected, but how do you calculate that?"

Contacted for comment on the issue, Dorothy Campbell, from the Consumer Affairs Commission, advised that evidence like photos and receipts would be crucial for any investigation.

"The good thing about smartphones is that it will be able to show the digital stamp. This will show that the picture was taken at a particular date and time. Those things we can get IT to pull up and verify. We can have our food storage people look at it and zoom in on it to see if they recognise the bug, and so on. It takes a little bit more than a regular complaint to investigate. We also have to ensure that we do not ruin the reputation of a vendor or have harm occur to the consumer because of a prolonged action," she said.