Despite a rat falling from the ceiling and landing on a diner's food tray on Nov. 25, business at Tangs Market food court apparently remained unaffected after it reopened on Dec. 1 morning, following three days of cleaning.
Located at the basement of Tang Plaza in Orchard Road, the food court underwent cleaning and sanitisation from Nov. 28 to Nov. 30 due to the rat incident.
In a joint statement issued by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Singapore Food Agency (SFA), NEA said enforcement action will be taken against Tangs Market's building management for rat infestation in the ceiling areas.
SFA will also be taking enforcement action against five food shops found with hygiene lapses.
Tangs Market is a food court brand under the Fei Siong Group.
Affected diner a pregnant woman
According to Shin Min Daily News, the rat fell on the tray of a pregnant woman.
As she was concerned about her unborn child, she visited the emergency department and gynaecologists to ensure she was not infected with leptospirosis, a disease caused by bacteria in the urine of infected animals.
Rodents are one of the most common sources of leptospirosis, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Other diners appear unbothered
However, other diners are seemingly unbothered by the rat incident.
When a Shin Min reporter visited the food court on Friday morning, a female diner said she didn't dare to visit Tangs Market initially.
However, after she saw that its staff had conducted cleaning work, she believed similar incidents would not happen again.
The diner said she decided she would not purposely avoid the food court.
Some patrons remained concerned
Nevertheless, the rat incident still left a lingering feat amongst some patrons.
A male diner told Shin Min that he would occasionally patronise Tangs Market because he works nearby.
However, he would be buying takeaways of his food for a while before dining in again.
Similarly, another female diner said that while she would dine in at the food court, she would check whether there was a hole in the ceiling above her so that she could avoid having a rat falling onto her tray.
Business not affected: Vendor
A vendor, who sells chicken rice at his stall, shared that the authorities had reminded them to do their cleaning work thoroughly every evening after the rat incident.
The vendor also revealed that the officers had come over to the food court to conduct checks at around 9am on Dec. 1 and kept urging stall operators to pay attention to hygiene.
"This was the first time I witnessed [a rat falling from the ceiling], but our business wasn't affected," he added.
Top image via Shin Min Daily News