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Midway through her meal, a woman in Singapore realised that a dark speck in her Mala Tang was not actually a piece of Sichuan peppercorn that one sometimes finds in such soup.
Upon closer inspection, she realised that it was in fact a tiny bug.
Photo via Cheryl See on Facebook.
She soon found 10 other bugs in the dish.
Photo via Cheryl See on Facebook.
This took place on May 4, after the woman placed an order via GrabFood at 6:23pm.
The woman claimed that the undesirable experience left her with a stomachache and diarrhoea, though it was thankfully not so severe that she had to seek medical help.
No such issues with previous deliveries
Using the Grab app, the woman left feedback for the restaurant — Shi Li Fang — hoping to sound the alarm over a potential hygiene issue at their Junction 10 outlet, which prepared her order.
A relative who passed by the outlet also left her number with staff there, so that they could contact her with any updates.
However, she has yet to receive a response to date.
She told Mothership that this was not her first time ordering from Shi Li Fang, and that her deliveries had mostly been uneventful.
Food unlikely to have been tampered with
She shared that the order arrived sealed, with an extra clingwrap over the container's lid, which indicated that tampering of the food after it left the restaurant was "unlikely".
A photo of the packaging. The woman explained that she took this photo as she had issues with spillage on a previous occasion and wanted to show her husband that the restaurant had packed it properly this time. Photo via Cheryl See on Facebook.
"It’s extremely unhygienic and could cause serious health issues," she wrote, in a Facebook post about her experience.
"Lucky for me, it was stomachache and runs. If a child/ elder consumed it, it could’ve been worse," she added, explaining that her post was meant to create awareness of the potential hygiene issue at the outlet.
The woman says she also reported the matter to the Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
Representatives from SFA then called her to say that they did not find anything untoward when they visited the premises, except for "some holes they found in the shop which could harbour the bugs", she shared.
Mothership has reached out to Shi Li Fang for comment and will update this article if they respond.
Photo via Cheryl See on Facebook
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