A buyer from Havana captured on video what appears to be a tick embedded in a piece of cheese she had just purchased at an agricultural fair in Havana, in a complaint that highlights the precarious hygienic conditions of food transportation and sales in the Cuban capital.
The video shared this Saturday on Facebook by the Nio platform reporting a crime also alerted about a broader issue: private sellers transporting bags of cheese from other provinces mixed with chickens, goats, rams, and other goods, without any health guarantees, mainly targeting the San Miguel del Padrón area, where the well-known La Cuevita market operates.
"Inside a cheese. Look at this. Where it was stuck. And this is the last straw, that even a piece of cheese can't be eaten in peace. I feel like throwing up; it's disgusting," exclaimed the shopper in the video.
The platform indicated that it had reported the presence of large quantities of allegedly spoiled cheese, possibly containing larvae, that were intended for sale, although this information could not be independently verified.
Among the citizen comments on the video, some users with experience in the field provided a technical explanation: "The tick always climbs walls and was inside the mold, and they poured the curdled milk mixture, trapping the little animal. That happens when you don't check the molds," wrote one.
Another pointed directly to the production process: "It was that the manufacturer didn't filter the milk before making the cheese."
Indignation mingled with resignation. "We're rotten, lacking everything," summarized one user. Another added bitterly, "And how expensive they sell it."
A third party expanded the issue beyond cheese: "Hygiene, one said here, go down San Rafael street to buy chicken and then tell me about hygiene."
Nio, reporting a crime, was direct in his questioning: "How many people are consuming contaminated food without knowing it? Where are the quality controls and the Public Health authorities?"
He also stressed that "we cannot normalize the idea that economic necessity becomes an excuse to jeopardize the health of the population."
In September, a resident of Morón found a cockroach inside a loaf of bread purchased from a street vendor and noted that finding foreign objects in food "is common."
In June, an activist documented the sale of fruits and vegetables in Havana surrounded by garbage, while a biologist warned that "an epidemic of gastroenteritis could happen in Havana at any moment."
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