Kopitiam employee scrapes floor with spoon and wipes it with 'dirty tissue' at Tampines Mall

A diner was horrified to see an employee using a spoon to clean the floor of a food court at Tampines Mall last Saturday (Feb 4).

Stomper KD shared a video showing the Kopitiam staff member in the act at around 7.15pm, and another video of him confronting her.

He recounted: "My family and I were going to eat dinner. I was with my daughter while my wife was ordering food, when I heard an irritating scraping sound.

"I tried looking for the source of the noise and then saw an employee at the halal tray collection area.

"At first, I thought that she was maybe using a tool or something to clean the floor. Then I saw her with a spoon in her hand, which immediately led me to think that this was very unhygienic."

The Stomper said he observed the employee for "maybe a good five minutes".

He added: "She continued with her actions but then I couldn't bear it anymore, thinking that some unsuspecting diner might use the same spoon. Furthermore, it's at the halal tray collection area."

KD decided to approach the employee, but was left even more disgusted.

He told Stomp: "As you can see in the video, she used a dirty tissue from the side to wipe the spoon and showed me that she had wiped it.

"She then placed the spoon together with other spoons. After that, she continued with her job like nothing had happened."

In videos that KD submitted, the sound of metal scrapping against the ground can be heard. KD is also heard expressing his disgust while observing the employee, who repeatedly scrapes at the floor with an object in her hand.

KD is later seen telling the employee, "It's unhygienic leh, you using a spoon leh. Huh?"

This leads the staff member to pick up a piece of tissue on the floor and use it to wipe the spoon in front of the Stomper.

KD said: "I hope Stomp can help to escalate this. Does Kopitiam hire people without any standards? Is there no training or hygiene?"

A spokesman for FairPrice Group, which owns Kopitiam, told Stomp on Friday (Feb 10): "We thank the customer for bringing this matter to our attention.

"We take a very serious stance on hygiene and food safety protocols and expect all our partners to uphold the same standards.

"We have since contacted our appointed cleaning contractor and shared the incident with them. The staff has been counseled and sent for re-training.

"As a precautionary measure, we will be replacing all the spoons for our Muslim diners with new ones."

In response to a Stomp query, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said: "Food safety is a joint responsibility. While SFA puts in place and enforces the regulatory measures, retail food establishments must play their part by adhering to good food hygiene and preparation practices.

"Members of the public who come across any potentially errant food establishment should report to SFA via the online feedback form. SFA will not hesitate to take enforcement action if we have obtained sufficient evidence."

In November 2022, a diner caught a Cantine food court employee urinating in the kitchen sink at his stall at Causeway Point. Disciplinary action was taken against the employee, a spokesman for Cantine by Kopitiam told Stomp at the time.