ByteDance food poisoning case: Eatery chain fined $7,000
Christine Tan for The Straits Times
Catering company Yunhaiyao, which was convicted over its role in the ByteDance mass food poisoning case that affected 171 people, was fined $7,000 on July 17.
District Judge Janet Wang said a "staggering" number of people were affected by the episode and that it was fortuitous no fatality resulted.
Noting that the firm had already been in operation in Singapore for six years, she added: "(The company) had sat on its laurels of complacency and maintained a lackadaisical attitude towards the importance of food safety."
Yunhaiyao's chief executive Lu Zhi Tao, who appeared in court on behalf of the company, said it has permanently closed its Northpoint City outlet, where the contaminated food was prepared.
Among other remedial measures, Mr Lu said all of the firm's chefs have since attended a hygiene course again, and a cleaning company was hired to thoroughly clean all premises that are still open for business.
Through a Mandarin interpreter, he added: "The company has set up a safety check team to check on the quality of cooked food and ingredients at the various retail outlets."
Meanwhile, the court heard that the other caterer that had been suspended by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) over the case was eventually found to be uninvolved in the gastroenteritis incident.
It was given the green light by SFA on Aug 10, 2024, to resume operations.
The two caterers had supplied food to ByteDance, which saw some of its staff hit by gastroenteritis on July 30, 2024.
The victims suffered abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting after consuming catered lunches prepared by Yunhaiyao.
SFA prosecuting officer Mohd Rizal told the court that of the 171 victims, 60 were taken to hospital and 22 of them were eventually hospitalised for between one and three days.
Yunhaiyao had on July 2 pleaded guilty to one charge under the Sale of Food Act and another under the Environmental Public Health (Food Hygiene) Regulations.
Court documents revealed that the wok-fried diced chicken prepared by Yunhaiyao was found to contain over 200,000 colony-forming units (CFUs) per gram of Staphylococcus aureus, a type of pathogen.
This is more than 2,000 times the acceptable level of less than 100 CFUs per gram.
Mr Rizal said pathogens exceeding this amount would make the food unsuitable for consumption and that eating such food may cause symptoms of gastroenteritis.
During the inspection of Yunhaiyao's food preparation premises at its Northpoint City outlet, SFA officers also discovered more than 10 live cockroaches beneath a folded grey plastic mat behind a rack.
Yunhaiyao's staff immediately disposed of the infested material, said the prosecutor.
The food company's suspension was lifted by SFA on Aug 16 after it took the necessary remedial measures.
Judge Wang said its remedial steps were fundamental processes that ought to have been put in place from the outset.
She further noted that the firm did not offer an apology or voluntary compensation after the incident.
When Judge Wang asked about its plans to compensate victims, Mr Lu said the company was in contact with ByteDance.
"We (ByteDance and Yunhaiyao) have an agreement that we will discuss this further upon the conclusion of this case," he said through the interpreter.
He added that the firm would post an apology on social media after the case's conclusion.
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