A Hong Kong sushi restaurant has apologised after a customer spotted a threadlike parasite crawling out of a piece of sashimi, triggering widespread food safety concerns across social media.

Popular Japanese chain Gatten Sushi, which debuted in the city in September 2024, issued an apology on social media on Tuesday after footage of the incident at its Causeway Bay branch went viral.

The video, shared by a diner on Threads, shows a thin, white parasite emerging from a piece of golden eye snapper sashimi during the social media user’s visit to the outlet last Friday.

The diner who posted the clip expressed relief that they noticed the parasite before they ate.

“Luckily, I was planning to take a photo first, and that is when I saw it crawling out,” the social media user wrote.

The diner confirmed that they had since reported the matter to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department via email.