<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Rusty bolt, nut in dish at foodcourt
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The bolt and nut found in a pork dish from a Kopitiam stall. -- PHOTO: LAK CHEE KHEONG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A SUNDAY dinner turned ugly for the Lak family when they dug up a steel bolt and nut in a dish.
Mr Lak Chee Kheong, 42, had taken his three children to a foodcourt in Thomson Plaza for dinner and ordered a plate of rice with some side dishes for his 11-year-old daughter, before going off to get her a drink.
When the businessman returned, she was holding up a metal object she had fished from the plate. Unsure of what it was as it was covered in curry gravy, Mr Lak asked the stall operators to wash it. It turned out to be a steel bolt and nut - and rusty at that.
'I don't think this is acceptable since they are dealing with the public. It's a matter of life and death,' he said.
The stall assistants threw away the rest of the pork dish the bolt - about 3cm long - had been found in. Mr Lak declined the stall's offer of a refund and bought his daughter food from another stall instead.
Mr Lak reported the incident to the National Environment Agency (NEA).
Food chain Kopitiam, which owns the foodcourt in Thomson Plaza, said the stall, which has a cleanliness grade of A, has been there for three months, and this is its first incident.
Stall manager Raymond Quak said: 'It's really unexpected, and we are very disappointed...It's our fault.'
He said staff should check through the raw material to ensure it is not contaminated with foreign objects and such checks have been stepped up.
Last year, the NEA received five reports of food contaminated with foreign matter. Stalls which breach food hygiene rules can be fined or have their licences suspended or revoked. KIMBERLY SPYKERMAN
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The bolt and nut found in a pork dish from a Kopitiam stall. -- PHOTO: LAK CHEE KHEONG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A SUNDAY dinner turned ugly for the Lak family when they dug up a steel bolt and nut in a dish.
Mr Lak Chee Kheong, 42, had taken his three children to a foodcourt in Thomson Plaza for dinner and ordered a plate of rice with some side dishes for his 11-year-old daughter, before going off to get her a drink.
When the businessman returned, she was holding up a metal object she had fished from the plate. Unsure of what it was as it was covered in curry gravy, Mr Lak asked the stall operators to wash it. It turned out to be a steel bolt and nut - and rusty at that.
'I don't think this is acceptable since they are dealing with the public. It's a matter of life and death,' he said.
The stall assistants threw away the rest of the pork dish the bolt - about 3cm long - had been found in. Mr Lak declined the stall's offer of a refund and bought his daughter food from another stall instead.
Mr Lak reported the incident to the National Environment Agency (NEA).
Food chain Kopitiam, which owns the foodcourt in Thomson Plaza, said the stall, which has a cleanliness grade of A, has been there for three months, and this is its first incident.
Stall manager Raymond Quak said: 'It's really unexpected, and we are very disappointed...It's our fault.'
He said staff should check through the raw material to ensure it is not contaminated with foreign objects and such checks have been stepped up.
Last year, the NEA received five reports of food contaminated with foreign matter. Stalls which breach food hygiene rules can be fined or have their licences suspended or revoked. KIMBERLY SPYKERMAN
