Woman says she found cockroach in soy milk, SFA investigating

A woman allegedly found a dead cockroach in soy milk she bought from a Taiwanese street food eatery in Tampines.

Riley Rhonda Tay took to Facebook on July 25 to share about the incident as she felt that the response she got from the store was unsatisfactory.

She had bought three cups of soy milk at Alley Wei's Tampines Mall branch on July 20 at around 2.40pm before heading off for an appointment at a nearby traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinic with her parents.

There, Tay discovered a cockroach at the bottom of her cup and was disgusted. After the TCM appointment, she headed back to the Alley Wei at around 5.50pm to inform them about her drink.

"[The] cashier apologised and offered a refund with replacement of the same soybean milk!" Tay claimed in her post. 

"The chef standing at the kitchen said, 'All we can do is refund you money and replace you [with] another [of the] same soybean milk'," which she repeatedly rejected.

Tay said she believes that the restaurant should have removed the "suspected contaminated source", offered a full refund and replaced any other "non-contaminated food" bought by customers, and stop the sale of "suspected contaminated food source" in such a case, which they allegedly did not do.

"Till I left the restaurant will full anger, the entire pot of contaminated soybean milk was still on sale, and they were still taking orders when I made a big scene!" she wrote.

After escalating the issue, Tay said she was contacted by a management staff from the eatery, to whom she demanded a public apology on social media instead of a verbal one or private settlement. She did not receive the public apology.

Additional pest control inspection, SFA investigating

When contacted by 8world, a spokesperson from Alley Wei said that the complaint had been reported to the management and operations team.

According to the spokesperson, the store undergoes frequent cleaning. The company also engages a pest termination company to visit stores every month.

Following the customer's complaint, the Tampines Mall branch's food preparation, cooking and storage areas have been thoroughly cleaned.

As three hours had passed since the discovery, and the drink had been removed from the store, Alley Wei said that it could not be determined where the cockroach got into the cup or whether it came from the store.

They immediately discarded the alleged contaminated food source and reminded staff to maintain food hygiene standards as well as follow proper procedures on handling customer feedback.

AsiaOne has contacted Alley Wei for more information.

They told 8world that the incident had been reported to Tampines Mall's management and that representatives of the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) had been there to inspect the store, and found no major hygiene issues.

SFA told the media outlet that they were investigating the incident, and may contact the whistleblower to obtain more details.

AsiaOne has also reached out to the SFA for more information.

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