Old Chang Kee sardine puff reveals nasty surprise
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This picture of an unidentified insect that surfaced in an Old Chang Kee sardine puff has been making its rounds online. (Photo courtesy of Maggie Jana)
Wednesday morning started like any other for 32-year-old Sandra Jana, who stopped by the Old Chang Kee at the Singapore Post Centre to grab one of their signature sardine puffs before heading to work. What she did not expect, however, was to take her first bite into the warm pastry of her purchase and discover, to her horror, a dark brown insect embedded among its filling.
"She saw something that looked like a shrimp in the curry puff," said Sandra's sister Maggie, 25, who recounted the incident to Yahoo! Singapore. "But she looked closer inside and realised it was something that looked like a cockroach." Maggie, who works with Sandra as a customer support representative at Delta Airlines, said her sister's horrific find shocked all of their colleagues in the office.
"Many of us are Old Chang Kee lovers too, and had themselves bought food from there that morning, but when they found out about this, everyone promptly threw away what they had bought that day," she added, saying that no one has purchased anything from the snack chain since. On the advice of her colleagues, Sandra then returned to the Old Chang Kee shop in the afternoon to complain about her shocking find.
"The staff there were pretty rude, though, and one of them raised her voice against her (Sandra)," said Maggie. "One of the cooks even emerged from the back and said, 'If you want a new curry puff, just take it and go,'" she added. She said that according to Sandra, who revisited the shop on her own, staff there were not apologetic, even making observations that the insect appeared to be alive, possibly insinuating that she may have deliberately placed it inside the pastry filling on her own.
They did ask her for her contact number, however, and kept the offending pastry so they could run tests on the yet-unidentified insect, Maggie said. She recounted that her sister received a call from a manager at the food chain on Thursday, where she was informed that the creature in question "was most likely not a cockroach because it was eight-legged, not six".
The manager also said this was determined after the insect was sent to a laboratory for identification, but it may take several days before it determines what exactly it is. "They were totally missing the point," exclaimed Maggie, who on Thursday also decided to post the picture above on her Facebook page, to share her experience with fellow Old Chang Kee lovers. The public picture went viral, with almost 100 comments and 150 people sharing it by Saturday morning.
Another user, Cassandra Teo, linked to Maggie's photo on the Old Chang Kee Singapore Facebook page -- and the administrators there responded on Friday afternoon to say they will be "investigating the matter more fully". As Sandra was too disturbed and frustrated by the entire situation to want to speak to the authorities, Maggie said she took over dealings with the Old Chang Kee management, filing a complaint with theNational Environment Agency (NEA) as well.
While the snack chain has yet to respond to queries, Yahoo! Singapore understands that the NEA is aware of and has acknowledged the complaint, and is looking into the matter. Currently, the NEA has a demerit point system in place, which it uses to penalise food sellers that do not comply with its hygiene regulations. Should a food seller be penalised with 12 demerit points under its system over a period of 12 months or less, it will be suspended from its operations.
The agency also requires all food handlers to attend a basic food hygiene course when they enter the trade, and to attend refresher training every three years to keep themselves updated on best practices.
In the meantime, things have not been the same for Sandra, says Maggie.
"She can no longer eat meals without picking through every spoonful to check it carefully before putting it into her mouth," she said.
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