The Singapore Food Agency is looking into an incident where a man had apparently found a cockroach inside a porridge that was bought from a food stall in Tampines.
The man posted about the incident on Facebook:
“I have been buying from the Tampines branch every weekend. My mom loves the porridge that’s why I always buy for her and myself.
On this day, I was shocked and disappointed at the same time.
Luckily I had to stir the porridge because I added a few extra ingredients of my own (chilli padi, fish skin, egg whites etc).
If not it could have easily ended up in my mouth without noticing at all. I immediately went out of my room to check with my mom’s if she encountered the same horror too. Fortunately, there wasn’t but I told her not to eat it because most likely it came out from the same main pot.
I just wanted to forget about it and stop buying from them anymore but my mom told me to go back there and tell them off. Mainly because they might continue their carelessness and affect others as well. I felt that she had a point so I went back to show them.
I am still a fan of this porridge in fact I think it’s one of the best in sg easily. But definitely not buying anymore from the tampines branch again.
Still supporting the hougang branch and hope this message will be a meaningful one to all. Thanks”
“Please be fair to us before you comment”
A netizen, Phan Thanh, who appears to be a staff from the affected Tampines branch, commented on the netizen’s post, saying:
“Very sorry for your trouble today. We will consider this as a lesson to learn for the next time to work better!
Please be fair to us before you comment. The porridge here is cooked through many stages:
– soak rice for 30 minutes
– Cook white porridge for 30 minutes, stirring once every 3 minutes and stirring continuously for the last 10 minutes
– Take 1 portion just enough for 1 box of porridge on the stove, add fish meat as required and cook for 2 minutes
– In the last 2 minutes of cooking, you have to stir your hands about 30 times, anyone who knows how to cook knows how to stir continuously with 1 part of 500m1 of porridge to cook on high heat.
Please enlarge the image of the cockroach in the bowl of porridge, it is very large and all legs and antennae are still intact. If it is in the porridge, then after so many steps it can’t even have a tiny leg intact.
At the end of the sale hours, all stalls are washed with soap, many customers who are late or eat at nearby shops at that time can easily see this.
We know it’s easy to have strange creatures in the kitchen, so every 2 days in the nooks and crannies, we are sprayed with a special drug in the picture. They don’t have a chance to grow up to such a large size.
After all, I would like to apologize to the customer who had a problem today and thank you very much for ur understanding. We will change to serve you better every day….”
Sin Heng Kee Porridge also responds
The Sin Heng Kee Porridge Facebook page also responded to one of the comments on the netizen’s post, saying:
“We are aware of this incident and have contacted the person in charge.
Do take note that we sin heng kee yishun and hougang are not affiliated with tampines branch. They have not gone through any form of training from us whatsoever.
They simply are using our name because they are related to our ancestors.
I repeat we are not the same company so eat there without comparing with us as like i said they have never been through any of our training.”
