S'pore couple finds sharp fragment in congee from Botanic Gardens food court, eatery investigating

The fragment turned out to be a piece of acrylic, which could have come from a container.

Nigel Chua | December 11, 2021, 04:41 PM

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[UPDATE on Dec. 11 at 6:15pm: This article has been updated with Mui Kee's response] 

A lady in Singapore was having Saturday morning breakfast when she discovered a sharp fragment in their congee — after it scratched the inside of her mouth.

Her husband then contacted Mothership to highlight the unfortunate incident, involving Mui Kee Express at Cluny Food Court in the Botanical Gardens.

He shared that he had ordered one portion of sliced beef congee just before 9am on Saturday (Dec. 11) morning.

When the fragment was found, he immediately notified Mui Kee, so that the brand could take action to prevent others from getting hurt.

He shared his concern that the "very sharp" fragment could potentially be life-threatening if swallowed, and that he wasn't sure if his wife had swallowed any smaller pieces before finding the fragment.

Image by Mothership reader

He said that his wife only found the fragment before she swallowed the mouthful of food as she happened to be chewing on a piece of sliced beef at the time.

Otherwise, the man said, he "can't imagine" how things would have turned out.

Image via Mothership reader

He said that he also reported the case to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), in hopes that intervention from the authority would ensure that other consumers could avoid such cases in the future.

Eatery investigating

According to the man, a representative of Mui Kee called him and gave him a refund for his order.

He was then told that there were no glass objects in the kitchen, and after being asked to check the object again, was able to confirm that it was a piece of clear acrylic, and not glass as he had initially suspected.

GIF from video by Mothership reader.

"They suspected it’s from a broken container but cannot confirm anything," said the man.

The man said that while Mui Kee had been "responsive and responsible" in their follow up action, he considers such a "life threatening food safety issue" to be unforgivable.

"Hope more people will be careful with liquid food," he added.

Mui Kee confirmed that they are investigating the incident in a statement to Mothership.

"Upon initial investigation, this plastic fragment could have been from one of our storage containers which broke," said the statement.

It added that this was an "isolated incident" and that it had given the customer a S$100 voucher on top of the full refund.

"We have reached out to the customer and his wife and we are glad to know both are doing okay," said Mui Kee, adding that it would "further improve to prevent such matters from happening again."

Top image via Andrew Tan on Google Maps and via Mothership reader

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