Wee Kien Meng is one unhappy customer.
He had gone to a Teban Gardens coffeeshop for his breakfast and ordered mee rebus.
To his shock, there were ‘extra ingredients’ in the noodles. An insect which looked like a cockroach.
An upset Kien Meng told STOMP he “confronted the stall-owners, and the female owner was obviously not happy about it” as the contributor asked for a refund.
According to him, she made him wait and “ignored him” while serving other customers first.
At the end of it all, Kien Meng received an apology, which he felt was “not sincere at all.”
He recounts another incident on 2 January, where he witnessed a stall-holder picking up a piece of cut lime after having dropped it to serve to other customers. This took place in a claypot stall in Rochor Centre. He also told STOMP about another incident, when he had gone to a carrot cake stall in IMM’s food court and was served stale carrot cake, which he described as having turned “sour”.
He comments, in his email to STOMP:
“I think stall owners do know about hygiene but the terrible thing is that they don't care about it because they are NOT the ones eating it. They probably want to save that few cents at the expense of the customers. When I try to find the hygiene grading by NEA on some of these stalls, they are no where to be found. What's the use of these grading when it is not being enforced?
Can NEA do something to ensure these stallowners understand the importance of serving clean food to customers?”
NEA has responded to STOMP's email about this issue. Appended is their reply:
Please refer to your feedback on the above-mentioned subject, which was sent to STOMP. It was re-directed to the National Environment Agency for investigations.
Our officers had checked the foodstall selling “mee rebus” at Block 49, Teban Gardens Road but did not detect any cockroach or other vermin infestation during their inspection. We have, nevertheless, sternly warned the foodstall licensee to ensure that the foodstall is kept clean and free of any infestation at all times. We will be making repeat visits to the foodstall to ensure cleanliness and hygiene.
Thank you for your feedback. 
Hygiene practices by stallholders: Fail! 
tat is disgusting.. if i see special add-ons to my dish, i tink i will faint on the spot..
