Nearly 60 Employees at TikTok HQ Suffer Food Poisoning

Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) are investigating TikTok's parent company, ByteDance following the food poisoning case which led to hospitalisation of workers.

On July 30, nearly 60 employees of ByteDance fell sick, and 57 of those faced gastroenteritis issues. The only common cause detected so far is they all consumed food from the caterers. As per media reports report, the parent company of the musical app doesn't have an in-house food facility. Third-party caterers are in charge of the same.

The company took an immediate step and rushed the affected workers to the hospital. In an interview with the BBC, ByteDance spokesperson said, "We take the health and safety of our employees very seriously and have taken immediate steps to support all affected employees, including working with emergency services to provide care."

SFA and MOH, investigating the case, said if any compliance error is found from the food caterers side, strict enforcement action will taken. "Food operators must play their part by adhering to good food safety practices," said the statement.

An employee who spoke to Channel New Asia said since the last 2 months all food was supplied by the new vendor. He added, "My colleagues felt nauseous for about an hour after lunch. Mostly vomiting and diarrhea. The toilets were all full and people were lying on the floor. The whole office smelled like vomit."

ByteDance was started in 2012 in by Zhang Yiming. Currently it is present in more than 30 countries with nearly 110,000 employees.