At 7.15am on 17 Apr 2023, a woman walked by Wok Hey at Compass One and saw several insects crawling on some brushes. She then took a video and submitted it anonymously to Stomp, and subsequently reported the matter to Singapore Food Agency (SFA).
Sporting close to 40 halal-certified outlets in Singapore, Wok Hey is a popular fast-casual stir-fry brand that’s well-known for its customisable fry-to-order wok dishes such as fried rice and noodles.
In the 24 second-long video, at least 3 small flying insects could be seen crawling on a large brush. She told Stomp: “It made my hair stand on end. No more Wok Hey for me. My kids really love Wok Hey too, but I guess they will stop eating it after watching this video.”
Note that these are the same brushes used to clean the woks after each round of cooking. While its Compass One outlet had yet to open (according to Wok Hey’s website, the Compass One outlet officially opens at 10.30am), it brings the stall’s and brand’s hygiene standards into question.
Wok Hey told The Straits Times that “[they] engage a professional cleaning company to deep clean and sanitise [their] outlets after operating hours on a daily basis”, and that “internal investigations found that the cleaning contractors it engaged did not clean the brushes properly”.
Further adding onto their response to ST, Wok Hey mentioned that as the outlet had yet to open, the insects might have been attracted to the open premises. In a bid to reassure customers, they said: “As part of the operations, additional checks and another round of cleaning of kitchen tools and utensils, including the brushes, are done before each outlet begins to operate.”
In the meantime, SFA said to ST that the matter will be investigated, and that enforcement action will be taken against errant food handlers.
As someone who’s eaten at Wok Hey plenty of times, I’m looking forward to seeing the results of SFA’s investigation, as this video is certainly making me rethink ordering from there again!
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