Irvins Salted Egg apologises and offers refunds after 'fried gecko' found in packet of its salmon fish skin

Irvins Salted Egg responded to a viral post of a fried gecko found in a packet of Irvins Salted Egg Fish Skin by apologising and offering refunds for batches of the snack.

A Stomper alerted us to the post by Facebook user Jane Holloway made on Dec 29.

The caption of the post reads: "OMG I can’t believe Irvins Salted Egg is not purely salmon fish skin but also gecko!"

She recounted the incident and said that her brother and mother had eaten half the packet before discovering the reptile and described the incident as "Soooo disgusting!".

According to The Straits Times, 38-year-old Ms Holloway, who lives in Bangkok, said today (Jan 2) that she bought the product from international supermarket Villa Market at K Village in the Khlong Toei district of Thailand.

Her mother, who is Thai and also resides in Bangkok, opened the packet last week to enjoy the snack with her Siem Reap-based brother, who was visiting them over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

He reportedly thought the lizard was a baby salmon fish but realised in time that that was not the case and did not eat it.

Ms Holloway, who works at the Thailand Institute of Justice, said that the snack is one of her favourites and that she has bought it several times for her family and her colleagues.

She said: "It's also really expensive here at 700 baht (S$29) a packet."

In Singapore, a packet of the salted egg fish skin snack weighing 105g retails for $8, while a big packet at 230g costs $16.

Irvin Gunawan, the founder of Irvins Salted Egg said today in a statement that he was "shocked and devastated" to hear about the incident.

"We really want to sincerely apologise to the customer and everyone who is affected by this incident directly or indirectly. We take full responsibility for the goods that we sell and everything in it," he added.

He explained that quality control is one of the most important aspects of the company and said that he has since personally contacted Ms Holloway about the incident and will also be keeping in touch with her.

He said that the case has also been reported to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and that the company will cooperate fully in its investigations.

He added: "We promise to make the necessary changes in our production to ensure this will never happen again."

Since the company does not have a full explanation of how the dead lizard ended up in the snack, he noted that it will investigate the matter further.

Mr Gunawan had also emailed Ms Holloway's brother and offered the family a refund for the snacks and the cost of any medical bills which might arise from the incident.

According to Mr Gunawan, the company had moved to a new production facility in JTC Food Hub along Senoko Drive in December, where "our hygiene and checking procedures are much, much stricter."

When asked, he did not say where its previous facility was located.

Ms Holloway added that her family members are "definitely traumatised" by the incident but that no one has fallen ill from eating the snack so far.

She said: "Mum says she feels like throwing up when she thinks about it."

Mr Gunawan said in today's statement that customers with salted egg snacks expiring on Oct 16 this year should email feedback@irvinsaltedegg.com to return the product and receive a refund.

He added that all customers who are uncomfortable with eating any Irvins Salted Egg snack should follow suit and that all recalled products would be disposed of.

For full story read at The Straits Times.