Occasionally, insects or foreign objects are found in food, but finding an entire sneaker insert in a bowl of spicy noodle soup is indeed over the top. According to reports by Jiyu News, a video recently circulated on the internet showing a piece of brownish-yellow 'shoe sole' embedded in a bowl of noodle soup has caused heated discussion on social media. Some netizens believed it to be a food safety issue, while others speculated it was a special-shaped spicy strips, or even a shoe size-related prank. However, contact could not be made with the original uploader of the video, which was located in the vicinity of the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou. Through the information provided in the video, media outlets traced the involved brand's restaurant, and were told that the object in the video was not a genuine sneaker insert but a piece of soy-based snack. At a store of this brand near South China Agricultural University, a staff explained that this 'shoe insert' was a special snack available for 3 yuan per piece, and was quite popular among customers.