SINGAPORE: While people occasionally find foreign objects in their food or drinks, discovering an insect in them is a whole different story, as the ick factor can go up a long, long way.
Especially when it’s a cockroach, that is.
A Facebook user named Ailing Wong recently claimed that this happened to her. On Nov 2 (Saturday), she posted photos of a cockroach she allegedly found in a bowl of red bean soup.
She added that a friend had bought the treat from the Chinese Garden Food Shop located at, you guessed it, Chinese Garden MRT Station.
The photos Ms Wong posted show a big brown cockroach across a plastic spoon over a bowl of reddish-brown liquid.
“Chinese Garden MRT… Beware of the hygiene. My friend bought the food from there. Fainted…” she wrote, though her post appears to have been taken down.
Ms Wong, who MustShare News interviewed, said she and her friend had gone to the Chinese Garden Food Shop earlier that day to buy congee and red bean soup.
After she had a few spoonfuls of the soup, the cockroach made an appearance on her spoon. The insect is said to be between three and four centimetres long.
Afterwards, the women filed a report through the OneService app, and the matter is under investigation by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
MustShare News also quoted Ms Wong as saying that this is the first time she’s witnessed this type of incident after visiting the eatery once a month.
“SFA takes a serious view towards food safety and will investigate all feedback alleging poor food safety practices,” the agency told Must Share News.
It added that it will “not hesitate to take enforcement action if sufficient evidence has been obtained” and reminded the public, as well as food operators, that “Food safety is a joint responsibility.”
Deng Xiaochen, who manages Chinese Garden Food Shop, confirmed that the authorities had come on Nov 2 to inspect the eatery’s premises, Shin Min Daily News reported.
Mr Deng, who also learned about the incident online, said that their pots all have lids and food is placed in containers after cooking.
“We don’t know how the cockroach fell in. Since the diner did not contact us, we don’t know if it came from our shop,” he said, adding that they do pest control monthly and have had no prior incidents of insects in their food. /TISG