Let her experience serve as an eyeopener to hidden food safety hazards.
After a day at work, Candy Chan just wanted to have dinner and rest. But she came home to an unpleasant surprise. There was shredded plastic in minced meat her domestic helper had bought earlier.
Plastic in Minced Meat from Giant
In a Facebook post earlier this week that has now been taken down, Ms Chan wrote that her helper bought the minced pork around 3pm on September 4, from Giant, Marine Terrace.
The plastic was found after the meat was boiled. Ms Chan instructed her helper to head back to the supermarket and buy another pack of the same meat. But to their shock, they found plastic in minced meat… again.
What is concerning is that even though the pork was boiled on high heat, the plastic did not melt, reports Channel NewsAsia.
Also, while there were many packets of this minced meat at the supermarket in the afternoon, only two were left when the helper returned there in the night.
“Crazy disgusting supplier!” wrote Ms Chan.
Plastic in minced meat was the last thing Ms Chan expected to find. Image: screengrab CNA
“Create Consumer Awareness…”
In her Facebook post, Ms Chan commented that she shared the story “to create consumer awareness and perform my civic duty”. Later, she said that, Tiong Lian Food, the supplier of the meat, apologised to her, reports Channel NewsAsia.
So, how did the plastic get there?
Apparently, staff had not seen that plastic was stuck to the frozen meat, which was tightly wrapped in said plastic. And because the plastic was hidden inside the meat, the quality control personnel also did not see it.
“We are deeply sorry regarding this incident that happened and our company owes our valued customers the deepest apologies, we take pride in our customer satisfaction and such a mistake is not acceptable,” said Tiong Lian Food in its message to Ms Chan, says CNA.
Reportedly, the company has removed all affected products from the shelves. It has also promised to up its game on quality control going forward.
Giant too, has taken the incident seriously.
“We initiated an immediate removal of this batch of item from all stores on Wednesday to protect customer safety, and as a matter of urgency, contacted the supplier to look into the issue,” they said in a statement.
However, Ms Chan was put off by the incident. And hereafter, she’ll be buying whole cuts of meat and mincing them at home.
Reference: Channel NewsAsia