Chocolate Origin reprimands worker who placed plastic cup containing cancer survivor’s dessert in microwave
A customer was upset to see a worker placing a plastic cup in a microwave while preparing her dessert at Chocolate Origin’s Marina One outlet.
Stomper Miz, who said she is a cancer survivor, had bought a Cuppa Lava Cake with ice cream for $7 from the store on April 1 at about 1.25pm.
She said she noticed the staff member placing the plastic cup containing the lava cake and ice cream into the microwave.
She estimated that the cup containing the cake and ice cream was placed in the microwave for about 16 seconds.
“I asked her if the plastic cup is microwavable and she mentioned yes,” said Miz.
After finishing the dessert, Miz said she checked the cup’s base but did not see a microwave-safe symbol.
Photos shared by the Stomper show recycling markings on the base of the plastic cup, but no visible microwave-safe symbol.
Miz said she called another outlet to confirm if the cup was microwave-safe and was told it was not.
She called the Marina One outlet to give feedback, but the person who answered was the same staff member who had served her. She then called a third outlet to escalate the issue.
“I felt very disappointed and thought this was not ethical at all,” she told Stomp. “It’s putting people’s health at risk.”
The Singapore Food Agency advises that only containers labelled as microwave-safe should be used for heating. The National Cancer Centre Singapore shared that plastic containers which are not labelled ‘microwave-safe’ should not be used in the microwave as they can melt and leak chemicals into food.
Miz said Chocolate Origin later reached out to her on April 3 and apologised.
Responding to a Stomp query, Chocolate Origin said on April 10 that it had conducted an internal review after receiving the customer’s feedback.
The company said the staff member involved was new and had not followed the standard operating procedure.
“For reference, the correct procedure is to warm the lava cake on a microwave-safe plate for 20 seconds before transferring it to a cup with vanilla ice cream,” a spokesperson said.
The company added that it responded to the customer in writing within 24 hours, offering an explanation and apology.
Chocolate Origin clarified that the dessert may have been warmed for about four seconds rather than 16 seconds, and that the microwave display might have shown the remaining time instead. The staff member also confirmed that the cup was cool to the touch when it was served.
“Separately, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) requested that our staff demonstrate the standard SOP for heating lava cakes as part of their review process, and we cooperated fully,” the spokesperson said.
Following its internal review and engagement with SFA, Chocolate Origin said there was no intention to mislead regarding the cup’s microwaveability but acknowledged that the handling fell short of its SOP standards.
“We also recognise that the staff member’s response at the point of service was inappropriate and likely stemmed from uncertainty upon realising the deviation,” the spokesperson added.
“The staff member has since been formally reprimanded and has undergone additional training. SOP adherence has been reinforced across the entire team to prevent recurrence.”
Chocolate Origin said it takes “full accountability” for operational standards across its franchise network and remains committed to strengthening training and governance.
“We regret that this experience caused concern to the customer,” the spokesperson said. “As part of our follow-up, we reached out to the customer; however, we have not received a further response from her to date.”
Chocolate Origin added that it remains committed to upholding food safety and operational standards across its outlets.
Miz told Stomp she was offered the option to redeem a free slice of cake from the outlet.
However, she expressed dissatisfaction with the service recovery.
“I think they don’t realise how serious this case can be,” she said. “Brushing it off with an offer of a slice of cake at the same store is not really a good service recovery to me.”
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