The Health Protection Division within the Ministry of Health (M.O.H.) concluded its investigation and said there was no physical evidence to prove that maggots were found inside fried chicken from one of the D.M.C. restaurants.

This was confirmed by the Director General of Health, Aiono Professor Alec Ekeroma in response to queries from this newspaper.

Upon receiving the official report from the Health Protection Division, Aiono confirmed that their efforts in tracking down the person who made the claims were unsuccessful and that there was no official complaint lodged with the ministry. 

The investigation also concluded that because of the high temperatures in which the chicken is cooked at the fast food franchise, the maggots should appear dead if they were in the chicken after cooking. 

However, based on what was posted on social media, the maggots were alive, which then would mean it may be cooked chicken that has been left overnight to have live maggots develop and grow over time. 

"No official complaint has been received," Aiono said. 

"Our attempts at tracking down the person who posted on FB to make an official complaint were not successful

"We have investigated and found that it is not possible to have live fly larvae inside a cooked chicken because of the temperatures the chicken is cooked in.

"We conducted an investigation into the DMC as being proactive to the social media post."

Aiono also confirmed that the investigation and report could not confirm which outlet the complainant bought the chicken from. 

Lastly, the ministry made a general recommendation to the restaurant to make sure hygiene conditions were maintained.   

"Inspections were conducted and a recommendation letter was issued to ensure good hygiene and sanitation of the food premises at all times."

Aiono is also of the view that the restaurant "jumped the gun" with its public apology without even looking into the issue first. 

The fast food franchise last month issued a public apology to its customers following an incident where a local customer took to social media with his concerns claiming that he discovered maggots in his fried chicken from one of its outlets in Upolu. 

D.M.C. which stands for Dad, Mum and Children restaurant also assured the public that they do not take such issues lightly and will carry out a thorough investigation into the incident. 

The video posted by the disappointed customer was shared by hundreds of Samoans expressing concerns over the service provided by the Chinese-owned restaurant. 

D.M.C. is owned by Tu’itu’ioaiga Teeking Weng who moved to Samoa from China in 2009 and started the restaurant chain and supermarket and employs hundreds of Samoans. 

Currently, D.M.C. has seven outlets in Samoa located at Moto'otua, Fugalei, Vaitele, Plaza, Vailoa, Puipa'a and Salelologa Savai'i. 

They opened their eighth outlet earlier this month in Fiji.