Rat spotted at same MBFC foodcourt a year ago
Diner saw rat at same foodcourt last year. Customer was so traumatised, she never returned
The rat that was trapped in a rat trap and fell from the ceiling of a Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) foodcourt last Friday was not the only rodent spotted there, it has emerged.
About a year ago, a live rat was seen in the same NTUC Foodfare on level two of MBFC Tower 3.
Ms Gregorina Chew, 30, contacted The New Paper after reading our report, "Rat falls from foodcourt ceiling", last Saturday.
The clerk, who works in MBFC, said she was with a colleague at the foodcourt on July 22 last year at around 8.30am.
They were about to buy breakfast when they saw a rat scurrying across the floor, below a row of stalls.
"I was very traumatised and did not buy food from the food court that morning," she told TNP.
"I used to patronise this food court twice a week. After seeing a live rat inside, I never went back."
Afterwards, Ms Chew sent a video of the incident to NTUC Foodfare's management to lodge a complaint. She received a reply from them by e-mail noting that the management had caught and eradicated the rat.
NTUC Foodfare confirmed the incident.
Its spokesman said: "We were alerted to the rodent sighting last year and had taken swift action along with our pest control agency to eradicate the rodent. No breeding ground was found. We have sustained an aggressive pest control regime since then to keep the situation well under control."
With regards to the July 1 sighting, the spokesman said it could be due to "constructions happening around the Marina Bay area."
Still, not everybody is as affected by the sightings.
Mr Yuen Wei Jie, 26, a regional projects executive who works at MBFC, witnessed the rat trap with the live rat inside falling from the ceiling last Friday. But he was not bothered and just continued eating.
Said Mr Yuen: "I don't think it is a big deal. Many eating places are not ultra hygienic to begin with."
A spokesman for Raffles Quay Asset Management, which manages MBFC and Marina Bay Link Mall, said: "The management has an ongoing pest control programme in which we work closely with our tenants on their preventive measures."
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