Bak kwa or 'bug kwa'? Woman gets unpleasant surprise after finishing CNY snack

She had been looking forward to chowing down on her first piece of bak kwa this Chinese New Year. 

However, Justina got a rude shock instead after she found a baby cockroach at the bottom of her bak kwa packet. 

In a TikTok video uploaded on Jan 28, Justina, who goes by the handle Pongponghu, shared how her excitement turned to horror after making the grisly discovery. 

All was still well in the first clip when she showed the box of snacks as well as her holding up a single slice of bak kwa. 

"Eating my first bak kwa for Chinese New Year 2023," she captioned, adding that she was "pleasantly surprised" by how the brand, Peng Guan, had vacuum-packed every single piece. 

However, the praise was short-lived.

In the second clip, Justina said that after polishing off the snack, she discovered a baby cockroach at the bottom of the packet. 

She had even initially thought that it was part of the bak kwa and was wondering why there was "still one small piece at the bottom [of the pack]". 

"Second half of the bak kwa piece had some crunchy bits, and I thought [it was] the char, but now I think they could be the cockroach's legs," she theorised. 

Upon making the discovery, Justina said she "screamed, gagged and washed [her] mouth". 

"It's my first bak kwa this Chinese New Year [and] probably my last," she wrote in the video captions. Her videos have since been deleted. 

And that's not the end of her problems — Justina still has 1kg of bak kwa left to eat. 

"How am I going to eat the rest?" she lamented to a netizen in the comments section.

While many netizens were sympathetic towards Justina's plight, one netizen thought otherwise and asked if she had staged the whole thing. 

In response, Justina told him he was crazy, adding that she ate the bak kwa while watching television, so she did not notice the cockroach until the very end. 

To warn others, Justina also said that one should check their bak kwa before eating it, regardless of the brand. 

In an Instagram story uploaded on Monday (Jan 30), Justina said she lodged a complaint to Peng Guan. 

The brand has since replied and asked her to "state [her] compensation terms". 

AsiaOne has reached out to both Justina and Peng Guan for more details. 

Caterpillar in my soup

Cockroaches aren't the only creepy crawlies people are finding in their food — there are caterpillars too. 

Earlier this month, a woman, who goes by the name Selena Neo, said her boyfriend discovered a caterpillar in his fish soup from Tai Seng Fish Soup at Taman Jurong Food Centre. 

He then brought the dish back to the stall to inform the hawker. But instead of being apologetic, the hawker remarked "eat until like that then return it". 

Annoyed, Neo said she was unclear what the hawker meant by that statement. 

"Before we start eating, we are suppose to dig around and try to find for mysterious ingredients?" she said pointedly. 

ALSO READ: 'Cooked cockroach' found in hor fun from Clementi zi char stall

melissateo@asiaone.com

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