Singapore — After finding a “fresh-looking” cockroach on his order of porridge from a Tampines outlet, a loyal customer decided to patronise a different branch instead.
“I have been buying from Tampines branch every weekend,” wrote Complaint Singapore Facebook page member Kieron Goh, referring to his order of porridge from Sin Heng Kee in Tampines Block 477 Street 43.
He explained that his mother loved the stall’s porridge, making him a regular customer.
However, Mr Goh was met with shock and disappointment when he discovered an extra ingredient on the porridge on Sunday (Jan 23).
“Luckily, I had to stir the porridge because I added a few extra ingredients of my own,” he said, noting the cockroach could have easily ended up in his mouth without his noticing at all.
He immediately checked on his mom’s portion if she encountered the same horror.
Despite his mom’s porridge looking seemingly uncontaminated, he still advised her not to eat it because the batch most likely came from the same pot.
“I just wanted to forget about it and stop buying from them anymore, but my mom told me to go back there and tell them off,” Mr Goh said.
He noted that the stall needed to be informed because “they might continue their carelessness and affect others as well.”
Mr Goh said that he won’t be patronising the Tampines branch anymore but would still support the Hougang outlet because he remains a fan of the porridge.
The concerned individual added that he posted his complaint on the stall’s Facebook page, “but they took it down immediately, obviously.”
In one of the comments of Mr Goh’s post, a spokesperson for Sin Heng Kee wrote a lengthy explanation, including an apology for his experience.
The representative said that their kitchen is sprayed with a chemical every two days; hence, no critter could grow to such a size.
She asked for Mr Goh to “be fair” to them before he comments, as their porridge is cooked through many stages, thus making it unlikely for the cockroach to remain intact.
“Please enlarge the image of the cockroach in the bowl of porridge, it is very large, and all legs and antennae are still intact. If it is in the porridge, then after so many steps, it can’t even have a tiny leg intact,” said the representative.
“After all, I would like to apologise to the customer who had a problem today and thank you very much for your understanding.” /TISG
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