Officials at Singapore’s office of TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance are investigating an incident that left dozens of people with severe stomach upset.
After fifty-seven of them were treated in hospital, health and food safety officials launched an investigation into the incident, which left 60 people with symptoms of gastroenteritis on Tuesday.
The company also said it is looking into the likely reasons why its employees became ill.
Reports indicate that no meal is prepared at the ByteDance offices and that third-party caterers supply food.
Local media reports say seventeen ambulances were dispatched to the building in Singapore’s business district to attend to those who took 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 informed 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.
Chinese entrepreneurs founded ByteDance in 2012. It had its first major success with 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.
Although it is mainly owned by ByteDance,a limited liability company based in Singapore and Los Angeles runs it.
