'Super disgusting': Man finds used cigarette butt in roasted duck rice from Tampines stall

While working from home, one man ordered a packet of roasted duck rice from GrabFood — only to be met with a nasty surprise. 

The man, who only wanted to be identified as Immanuel, told AsiaOne that he ordered his meal from Hua Zai HK Style Roasted Delight at 827 Tampines Street 81 on Monday (June 27) at 12.17pm. 

His meal arrived in about an hour.

"I was very hungry, so I didn't think too much and just dug in," said the 35-year-old business management executive. 

On his third mouthful, Immanuel said he realised there was a "cigarette taste" in his food. After spitting it out, he found, to his horror, a used cigarette butt lodged in between the rice and the meat. 

"This is super disgusting," Immanuel recalled. "Even until now I still feel damn disgusted." 

He said he lodged a complaint with GrabFood and the company has since provided a full refund for the order.

Immanuel said he has also written to the Singapore Food Agency regarding this incident. 

When AsiaOne visited the stall at Tampines, a stall assistant said that he is unaware of such an incident and asked that we contact his boss, Yong for more information.

AsiaOne has also reached out to Yong for more information. 

It is unknown how this cigarette butt made its way inside the container, whether it was left by mistake by a Hua Zai employee or by the GrabFood delivery rider.

Last April, another Hua Zai Roasted Duck outlet in Clementi made headlines when a Facebook user said that he witnessed a staff assistant place raw chicken on the "dirty and wet floor". 

A stall assistant later told Shin Min Daily News that the chicken had dropped to the floor because of torn packaging, and was later discarded. 

AsiaOne has contacted Grab for comment.

claudiatan@asiaone.com