Health and food safety officials in Singapore are currently investigating a case of food poisoning that has affected 60 employees of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. The affected staff began showing symptoms of gastroenteritis on Tuesday, with 57 of them requiring hospital treatment.
The outbreak has raised concerns as dozens of ByteDance employees were hospitalized due to the food poisoning incident. ByteDance has stated that it is actively investigating the cause of the illness. Despite no food being prepared or cooked at the ByteDance offices, the company relies on third-party caterers to supply meals for its staff.
The severity of the situation was evident as seventeen ambulances were dispatched to ByteDance’s office building located in Singapore’s business district to provide medical assistance to the ill employees. A ByteDance spokesperson assured the BBC, “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. We are investigating the matter and are working with the relevant authorities on this.”
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and the Ministry of Health emphasized the importance of food safety practices in a joint statement. “Food operators must play their part by adhering to good food safety practices,” they stated. The SFA also warned that it would not hesitate to take enforcement action against any food operators found to be in violation of food safety regulations.
ByteDance, founded in 2012 by Chinese entrepreneurs, initially found success with the short video app Douyin in China. Following this, in 2017, it launched TikTok, an international version of Douyin, which has since grown to have over a billion active users globally. Although TikTok is not available in China, it operates from Singapore and Los Angeles under a limited liability company, with ByteDance as the owner.
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