Health and food safety officials in Singapore are investigating a case of food poisoning that has affected 60 staff of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
According to BBC, they showed symptoms of gastroenteritis on Tuesday. 57 of them were treated in hospital.
Also, dozens of the parent company of TikTok staff were hospitalised over the food poisoning outbreak.
ByteDance has also said it is looking into what caused its employees to fall ill.
Meanwhile, no food is prepared or cooked at the ByteDance offices. It uses third-party caterers to supply food.
Ambulances
Seventeen ambulances were sent to the building in Singapore’s business district to treat those who had fallen ill.
“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,” a ByteDance spokesperson told the BBC.
“We are investigating the matter and are working with the relevant authorities on this.
“Food operators must play their part by adhering to good food safety practices” said the Singapore Food Agency, SFA, in a joint statement with the city-state’s Ministry of Health.
“SFA will not hesitate to take enforcement action against errant food operators,” the statement added.
Founded in 2012 by Chinese entrepreneurs, ByteDance had its first major success with the short video app Douyin in China.
A year later, it launched TikTok, an international version of Douyin.
TikTok, which is not available in China, has more than a billion active users around the world.
It is now run by a limited liability company based in Singapore and Los Angeles. But is essentially owned by ByteDance.
