A woman in Singapore had a close brush with some creepy crawlies after spotting them on a food kiosk’s cleaning tool.
She took a video of the unnerving sight and submitted it to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
As a result, SFA is looking into the matter.
Wok Hey has also addressed the issue in a statement.
According to Stomp, the woman first noticed the insects at Wok Hey’s Compass One outlet on Monday (17 Apr) morning at 7.15am, before the store’s opening hours.
She recorded video evidence of the sight and submitted it to Stomp, describing what she witnessed.
The start of the 24-second clip shows three winged critters crawling around a cleaning brush.
The brushes were piled into a wok, with food remnants still visible on its bristles.
Source: The Straits Times
After a few seconds of the footage, the camera pans up to show that the brushes were within the premises of a Wok Hey kiosk.
Source: The Straits Times
Speaking to Stomp, the woman said, “These are the brushes that are used to wash the woks after every batch of fried rice is cooked.”
“It makes my hairs stand on end. No more Wok Hey for me. My kids really love Wok Hey too but I guess they will stop eating it after watching this video.”
In response to queries from MS News, Wok Hey confirmed that they are aware of the video taken at their Compass One outlet on 17 Apr.
They also explained that standard operating procedure requires the double cleaning of wok brushes after closing and before opening the kiosk daily, which the company believes “ensures the highest possible hygiene standards”.
In this case, however, workers did not follow the post-closure cleaning standard for the wok brushes the night before. For this, Wok Hey apologises and promises to do better.
However, Wok Hey assures that all cooking apparatus undergo additional cleaning prior to outlet opening and operations.
“We are working closely with all staff and contractors to ensure that we maintain the highest hygiene standards. Striving for continuous improvement, we will fine-tune our processes to make sure that every meal from WOK HEY continues to be safe, tasty and nutritious.”
The company emphasises that they take hygiene matters at all outlets seriously and work to ensure the highest standards of cleanliness and food safety.
“Our staff follow a stringent standard operating procedure when it comes to cleaning processes in all our outlets, and we take the additional step of engaging a professional cleaning company to deep clean and sanitise all outlets after operating hours on a daily basis.
“Additionally, we engage pest control services to service all outlets monthly to ensure our outlets remain pest-free,” they said.
Apart from submitting the video to Stomp, the woman has also apparently escalated the matter to SFA.
Speaking to The Straits Times, SFA shared that they are investigating the matter and “will not hesitate to take enforcement action against errant food handlers”.
That said, the agency stated that food operators must also play their part in ensuring food safety.
Hopefully, such lapses will not occur again, so customers will continue to have confidence in local F&B companies.
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Featured image adapted from The Straits Times and Google Maps.
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