SINGAPORE - The employee who was caught on camera washing her shoes in a sink at a Kopitiam food court in the National University Hospital (NUH) has been sacked.
Facebook user Queenie Here had posted the video last Sunday (June 21) night, in which she also wrote: "Care for a dessert @NUH Kopitiam? I wanted to order dessert after my dinner. Unfortunately I saw this scene....."
The clip, which lasts almost two minutes, shows the woman scrubbing both her shoes with a brush under a running tap within the cold desserts section of the food court. She then appeared to return the brush to a container which held other kitchen utensils.
As of 11am on Tuesday, the clip had attracted more than 270,000 views and was shared over 14,000 times.
It also attracted over 1,000 comments, with a large number of netizens expressing their disgust at the lack of hygiene exhibited.
"How can the staff do that? They are preparing food for people to eat and drink," wrote user Amy Goh.
"Unbelievable and unacceptable!!!" wrote Cecilia Lim.
In a statement issued to The Straits Times on Tuesday night, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said it had investigated the incident and would be taking enforcement action against Kopitiam.
"This episode was aflagrant breach of hygiene that could have resulted in contamination of food and utensils," it said.
Kopitiam, known for its chain of food courts in Singapore, has since apologised for the incident. In a post on Facebook on Tuesday morning, it assured customers that the washing equipment used by the employee had been replaced and the sink disinfected.
"The staff in question has been terminated with immediate effect and we will be conducting a thorough investigation into this matter," it added.
A Kopitiam spokesman said that the company will also be conducting a hygiene briefing for all staff members working in the food court.
NUH wrote on its Facebook page that it was aware of the video and had alerted Kopitiam's management.
- ST
saw the video so yucky.