Woman injured by fish hook in her restaurant meal, owner issues apology and compensation

SINGAPORE: A woman unexpectedly hit a hard object while eating fried fish while dining in a restaurant. Initially, she thought that it was a fish bone, but to her surprise, it turned out to be a 2.5-centimetre-long fishhook. 

The 66-year-old diner and his colleague recently dined at a restaurant in Yishun, and they ordered a set meal for two, one of which was two pieces of fried fish. He recalled that his female colleague had just taken a bite of the fried fish when she felt a stinging pain in her mouth caused by the fishhook. 

The man expressed: “I’m very puzzled. How could no one have noticed such an obvious foreign object? If swallowed, it could cause serious injury or even death.” 

After finding out about the fishhook, the diners immediately called the restaurant staff and took photos as evidence. With this, the staff apologised and offered to replace the fish. However, they refused because they were too hungry and didn’t want to wait any longer. 

The restaurant manager then told them that the meal was on the house, and when they learned that the customer needed to see a doctor, they offered to cover her medical expenses. 

The diner still reported the matter to the authorities even though the restaurant was willing to take responsibility. For him, it was “absolutely unacceptable” for such foreign objects to appear on the dish. 

“We hope this will serve as a reminder to businesses and the public to be more vigilant,” the diner said. 

When contacted, the 36-year-old restaurant owner admitted that the Singapore Food Agency is currently investigating the case and will fully cooperate. 

“I apologised on the spot and offered a free meal. I also reminded the customer to see a doctor and exchanged phone numbers with the customer so that the matter could be handled properly. I also compensated the customer for medical expenses afterwards,” the owner said. 

The owner declared that they are deeply sorry for what happened. 

In some related news about food safety, there was a report that a food delivery worker was seen pouring spilt porridge from the plastic bag into the container once again before delivering it to the customer. 

The 32-year-old customer found a note from her neighbour stating that she had witnessed how the food delivery rider poured the spilt porridge back into the container and even had video evidence of the scene. 

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