AP FACT CHECK: Florida restaurant wasn’t serving dog meat

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Police say a viral story claiming a Chinese restaurant in Florida was shut down after an undercover police officer purchased dog meat there was not true.

The undated story appears on the website majorthoughts.com. Repeating an old urban legend alleging Chinese restaurants serve foods considered taboo in the U.S., it claims the “China chow restaurant” in Coral Springs had a special menu offering dog meat to VIP customers. It also claims a two-month undercover police operation ended the slaughter of dogs in the back of the restaurant.

The Coral Springs Police Department has debunked the story multiple times on its Facebook page since late December. Community Involvement Coordinator Lynne Martzall told The Associated Press on Monday that police wanted to alert the public about the false report because of the number of messages the department had received about it.

There is no Chinese restaurant at the intersection cited by the story. A police spokeswoman, Sgt. Carla Kmiotek, said the “Coral Springs spokesperson” quoted in the viral story also was fake.