Diner discovers centipede in noodles, raising concerns on food safety and hygiene

SINGAPORE: A supposedly normal eat-out turned out to be shockingly disgusting when a diner found a black centipede in her soup. 

A 43-year-old diner reported that she went to a noodle shop in Seletar Mall and ordered a bowl of pan mee for S$5.5, according to Lianhe Zaobao. She was about to divide the soup for her 10-year-old and 8-year-old children when she unexpectedly saw something foreign in the dish while she was scooping noodles out — a centipede about four centimetres long. 

The customer then complained to the store clerk and received a refund for her order. She also shared that the supervisor of the stall was not present during the time of the incident, and there was no further action taken aside from the refund. 

Worried that the entire soup broth was contaminated, the diner claimed, “I thought she would throw the whole pot of soup away, but she didn’t. I called management the next day to give feedback.”

Later on, the noodle shop admitted that they were aware of the situation and stated: “We take food safety very seriously and took immediate action after receiving notification.” 

The spokesperson also claimed that the food preparation area of the store has been disinfected and that the soup base has been remade. Furthermore, the business owner also conducted an internal inspection to ensure the store’s hygiene and food handling processes. 

It was not yet determined how the centipede ended up in the bowl, and the store has not received any similar feedback after the incident. With this, they said: “Customer safety remains our top priority, and we will continue to closely monitor the situation.” 

Other similar news

Diner complaints are very common in public food places, and there was also a report where a customer complained that he found a steel wire in his food while eating in a seafood stir-fry stall. 

Due to this unfortunate incident, the owner of the stall immediately apologised and offered a partial refund, but the diner refused. 

Read more about the story here.