Woman finds pieces of broken plastic tray on Golden Chef Xiao Long Bao from FairPrice; supermarket chain suspends sale of product

[The_King]

SINGAPORE — A woman was tucking into her plate of xiao long baos when she realised that something was not right, having spotted “white stuff” on the dumplings she had purchased from local supermarket chain FairPrice.

It was only upon picking it up and further inspecting that Alethea Seet realised they were pieces of plastic that had broken off from the frozen product’s packaging.

“When [the xiao long bao were] frozen, it looked the same as the plastic colour, so it was not obvious. But once steamed, [it became] more transparent, suddenly the plastic [was] damn obvious,” the property agent told Yahoo Southeast Asia.

Plastic pieces only discovered after the xiao long baos had been steamed

 

Seet had purchased a packet of Golden Chef Xiao Long Bao, a brand owned by FairPrice, from the Fairprice App and received her items on 18 March.

This was the first time she had tried food from the brand and the 500g packet was retailing for a promotional price of $6.60.

She had decided to steam a few of them for a meal the next day when she discovered the plastic shards on at least three of the dumplings.

She then went to the freezer to open the full packet of xiao long baos, and discovered that the plastic from the tray used to contain the dumplings was broken. Seet said bits of plastic were scattered over the frozen dim sum pieces.

She shared that while the dumplings were frozen, it was not possible to notice there were plastic pieces on them at first glance.

Seet contacted FairPrice about the issue. After asking for photos, the company arranged for someone to collect the tainted items.

FairPrice looking into the matter, second pack of xiao long bao had similar issue

Seet’s husband then decided to order another packet of xiao long baos from the same brand without Seet’s knowledge, as she had mentioned to him in passing that the one she had eaten was “yummy”.

However, once again when she received the item on 21 March, the same issue of the plastic tray being broken persisted after she opened up the package of frozen goods.

She reported the issue to FairPrice, who then asked her to dispose of the item. Seet said she had to initiate a refund of the items on the FairPrice app.

A spokeperson from FairPrice Group told Yahoo that the company is investigating the matter and the sales of the product have been temporarily suspended as a precautionary measure.

“We have reached out to the affected customer to provide a refund and address any concerns they may have,” he said, adding: “We take any food-related concerns very seriously.”

A check of FairPrice's website at press time found that the item listings had been removed.