S'pore woman finds worms in cereal from Shopee, notices 'moths' in house over next few weeks

What was supposed to be a normal breakfast of plain old cereal for one woman turned into a whole lot more after she discovered worms crawling through a bag of her morning meal.

What happened

The woman, HH, purchased two boxes of cereals off Shopee Supermarket on Jul. 27, according to a screenshot of the receipt.

The cereals were delivered the next day.

When she wanted to consume the cereal for breakfast one week later, she noticed there were cereal bits on the inside of the bag that were "dangling on threads", which she found unusual.

She did not make much of it however, and proceeded to consume the cereal.

It was only when she returned home in the evening did she notice a worm on her kitchen wall.

After taking time to inspect her pantry, she eventually traced the source of the worm back to cereal.

In her customer service support ticket, she told Shopee that she found holes in the packaging and there were worms in the unopened bag as well.

"I immediately took the cereal out of my house," HH said.

HH ultimately disposed of the dog food and other dried goods stored near the boxes of cereal.

She did not open them up to check for worms, but decided to be cautious after searching up about the worms on Google and learning that they may feed on dried goods.

'Moths' started appearing

According to HH, the episode didn't end there.

She started noticing "moths" in her house, which she suspected had grown from the worms in the cereal.

HH shared that for the ensuing weeks, she had to spend time and effort to get rid of the insects.

When asked how she knew the moths came from the worm, she pointed out that the insects only appeared after the worm-infested boxes of cereal were left in her pantry.

"That was the only new thing I placed in my store room," she said.

The boxes of cereal were within the best before date, according to HH.

She requested a refund from Shopee on Aug. 5 and got a full refund of S$13.85 on Aug. 11.

However, she said her grievance was that while Shopee refunded on the boxes of cereal, they "did not offer to help engage pest control to control the moths".

The insects have not been sighted after she undertook pest management measures on her own.

Checks conducted: Shopee

Responding to queries from Mothership, a Shopee spokesperson confirmed that they have apologised to the user for their unpleasant experience and provided a full refund.

"While we are not away of further reports of a similar nature at this time, as a precaution, we have conducted a thorough check of our inventory and warehouse and confirm that there was no further contamination and no other affected items," the spokesperson added.

Shopee has also provided feedback to the supplier of the item so that they can further investigate on their end.

According to the spokesperson, Shopee conducts regular hygiene treatments and preventive pest management to ensure their facilities are secure and clean.

"We remain available to provide any additional support should the user require," the spokesperson said.

Moths

Speaking to Mothership, Foo Maosheng, an entomologist at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore, shared that the moth in question could be a species from the pyralid moth family.

It is a group of moths that has some pests, like the common Indian-meal moth that can infest cereals and grains.

Infestation often starts after food packets with undetected eggs are brought into homes.

Infested products should be discarded immediately. Other dried food items such as pasta or or dried fruits should be checked.

Top image via HH