Man's teeth become 'gone case' after biting on stone-like object in rice, SFA investigating

A man paid the price after patronising a pushcart stall at Compass One in Sengkang – metaphorically and literally.

Not only was the rice that he purchased costlier than he expected, the customer also ended up biting into a foreign object and hurting his teeth.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) told Stomp on Jan 2 that it is investigating the matter.

Stomper Scorpio said he had bought a packet of glutinous rice on the the shopping mall's ground floor on Dec 28, at around lunch time.

He recounted: "The makeshift cart was selling nonya items, nasi lemak, otah, kueh, etc. It had been there for quite sometime as I often shop at Compass One.

"The glutinous rice caught my eye and as I love the dish, I thought the price should not be expensive and took out two pieces of $2 notes, thinking that it was maybe $3.

"The seller attended to me and I asked for the glutinous rice. She saw my money and collected my $4 and told me it was $4. I was like... what?????

"I then asked about the price for oneh oneh. The seller told me it was $4 and I could buy it with the rice at $7 for both.

"What is this??? $4 for a pack of glutinous rice???"

Scorpio said the pricing was "not the worst part". That came when he went home and ate the rice.

He told Stomp: "Halfway through, I chewed on a hard piece of small who-knows-what. I immediately spat it out and found a white stone-like thing in the rice.

"Even worse, I felt like the filling in my front teeth had cracked so I thought the object was my filling but NO, the filling has been there for 20 years and has a bit of brownish stains like the rest of my teeth due to smoking.

"I touched the small white thing and it seemed like a small stone that you can find in fish tanks.

"I quickly went to the toilet and rinsed my mouth with water. I found that my filling had indeed totally cracked into very small pieces. I think I even swallowed some bits because they were very small.

"At first, I thought there was nothing wrong. When I saw my fillings and looked at my teeth, gone case. Twenty over years and they just cracked like that."

The Stomper, who also reported the incident to SFA, added sarcastically: "Even eating crab is not so harmful, but this glutinous rice made my day.

"It was a mistake buying from this stall. The food is both expensive and unhygienic. This is my first and last time buying from them. I thought of going back to the seller but it was quite a distance away as I do not live nearby. If I happen to pass by again, I am going to show them these pictures.

"This incident has given me a phobia of biting too hard into food again in case there is stuff hidden in it."

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

SFA also said it will not hesitate to take enforcement action against errant food operators, adding: "Members of the public who come across any potentially errant food operator should report to SFA via the online feedback form.

"As part of the enquiry and gathering of evidence, SFA may engage the feedback provider for more details."

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